The Amazing SpiderNinja
by ZenoNoKyuubi
Summary: I think the title says it all. After failing the Academy exam for the first time, Naruto wanders into the forest in a rage. There, he is bit by a strange spider, which grants him amazing powers. NaruXAnko, possible Harem
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, I just watched The Amazing Spider-Man, and I just couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I had to type it out. Basically, it's Naruto gaining Spider-Man's powers. There are just too many fics where Naruto gets Venom, but not enough fics where he gains Spider-Man's powers. Read and Review, please!**

–

Uzumaki Naruto was sulking. Why? Because he had just taken the Academy Exam, but failed the final test, when he tried to do a Bunshin... It sucked! The ten-year old Naruto had taken one of the man hidden exits out of Konoha into the forest surrounding the village.

He was strong, he was stealthy, maybe not too skilled, but he was great at stealth and traps! Not to mention that he had mechanical skills! It had to count for something, didn't it?

"Stupid Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled angrily as he kicked a tree, showing off his above average strength when the tree shook from the kick. Now that was how a ninja kicked! So why couldn't Iruka-sensei pass him? Just because he failed _one_ jutsu? It was... It was... Utter bullshit is what it was! Naruto gave another angry yell and kicked the tree again.

Unseen by Naruto, a small, blue-and-red spider fell out of the tree and landed on his shoulder. It slowly crept down the child's arm as said child stalked angrily through the forest. When it reached the boy's exposed skin on his arm, Naruto looked down, just in time for the spider to bite him.

Naruto cried out in pain and brought his hand down on the spider, crushing it.

"Stupid spider!" Naruto yelled out in anger and pain as he wiped the remains of the spider off on his pants, scoffing. Nothing seemed to go his way today! "This is nasty..." he muttered, seeing the gooey remains on his pant leg.

Deciding enough things had gone bad today, Naruto didn't want anything else to happen, so he headed back home. Once he got back to his piece of crap apartment, he headed straight to bed, falling asleep almost instantly. He felt really tired, for some reason.

His dreams were haunted by terrifying images of spiders, big ones, small ones, hairy ones, bald ones, all of them baring their fangs at him. In his dream, one of the spiders bit him, and Naruto's eyes snapped open.

He didn't know what happened. One second, he was in bed. The next, he was stuck to the ceiling on all fours, wide-eyed. Below him stood none other than the Sandaime Hokage, who was staring up at him with equally wide eyes.

"Naruto-kun..." the Sandaime said, his pipe falling from his mouth to the floor, his hand in the same position it had been, hovering above the spot where Naruto had lain a few seconds earlier. "Where did you learn that chakra ability?"

Naruto blinked, then looked at his hands, which seemed stuck to the ceiling, then back down at the Sandaime.

"Chakra ability?"

"Aren't you using chakra to stick to the ceiling?" the Sandaime asked, and Naruto shook his head.

"No, I- AH!" Whatever was keeping Naruto stuck to the ceiling suddenly let go, and Naruto fell. Surprisingly, however, he spun almost automatically in the air and landed in the same position on all fours on the bed. "This... This is weird..."

"I'll say..." the Sandaime muttered. "Naruto, what happened to you?"

"I-I don't know, Jiji," Naruto said, sitting down wide-eyed on the bed, the covers sticking to his hands. "I wasn't like this when I went to bed!"

Suddenly, Naruto lashed out at the Sandaime, but to their great surprise, his hand stopped in front of the Sandaime's face, holding a fly between two fingers. The Sandaime stared down his nose at the fly, then looked to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun... Could you do that yesterday?"

With a jerk, Naruto let the fly go, and stared fearfully at the Sandaime.

"No, Jiji!"

"Come on, Naruto-kun," the Sandaime said as he helped Naruto get the covers off his hands. "Let's go to my office, and we'll go through everything you did yesterday."

–

"So, a spider bit you?" the Sandaime asked as he sat in his office, with Naruto sitting on the other side of the desk, nodding. "And now, you have strangely spider-like abilities... Could it be that the spider's bite somehow transferred some of its DNA to yours?"

"DNA?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side. "What's that?"

"Never mind, maybe you should let me handle the thinking," the Sandaime said in amusement. Naruto nodded and jumped out of his chair, landing on the ceiling on all fours. The Sandaime watched as Naruto crawled around in the ceiling like a spider, looking less and less frightened, and more and more excited.

"I feel stronger, Jiji!" Naruto said happily. "I can hear everything, see everything! Even that fly outside the window!"

The Sandaime looked over his shoulder. He saw no fly. He looked back at Naruto, only to jump in shock when Naruto was sitting like a cat on his desk.

"This is awesome, isn't it, Jiji?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"It is certainly something beneficial for you," the Sandaime agreed. "Naruto-kun, how would you like to skip the next year at the Academy?"

"Skip it, Jiji?" Naruto asked, blinking in surprise. "Why?"

"I would like to find out some more about these new abilities of yours before I let you go running off into the village unsupervised."

"Don't you trust me?" Naruto asked, hurt, and the Sandaime chuckled.

"I trust you, Naruto-kun. It's these new abilities of yours I don't trust yet."

"Well..." Naruto said, looking a bit saddened. "If you think it's for the best, Jiji..."

And so, the Sandaime and Naruto set out to discover the extent of these new abilities of Naruto. They found that he possessed strength, reflexes, speed, equilibrium, agility, durability, and stamina way above the level of a jounin. If the Sandaime was to hazard a guess, he'd guess that Naruto was on the level of Maito Gai when it came to Taijutsu. The boy seemed to have instincts on a level never before seen, as he could react to any threat in a nanosecond.

Of course, the boy took to these changes like any boy his age would.

With infinite glee.

Of course, the Sandaime tried to teach Naruto that with great powers, there must also come great responsibility, and that he couldn't just go around flaunting his abilities. This didn't stop Naruto from going roof hopping at insane speeds, whooping with joy, and leading the ANBU of the village on merry chases.

"Hey, Jiji!" Naruto exclaimed one day as he barged into the Sandaime's office through the window, having taken to crawling like a spider like a fish to water.

"Naruto-kun, how many times must I tell you that I have a door for a reason?" the Sandaime asked with an exasperated sigh. Of course, there was a smile on his face, so Naruto didn't really take what he said to heart.

"At least a hundred more times, Jiji," Naruto said with a grin as he flipped over the Sandaime's chair to stand in front of his desk. "What do you think?"

The Sandaime looked Naruto over and hummed. Naruto had gotten a change in wardrobe. No longer did he wear that horrible orange jumpsuit. Instead, he wore red and blue. He wore a pair of red-and-blue ANBU sandals that went up to just below his knee, red-and-blue ANBU pants, red-and-blue ANBU gloves that went up to mid-biceps, and a tight red-and-blue muscleshirt under a red, sleeveless hoodie, whose hood was lined with blue. On the chest of the hoodie was a black spider symbol. The Sandaime chuckled.

"Well, at least you got rid of the orange, and chose darker shades of red and blue," he said, nodding, and Naruto grinned.

"That's not all! A ninja shouldn't show his face, right?" Naruto asked as he reached into his pocket, taking out a full face mask, which was red with a web-pattern on it. It had two large, pointed eyes with reflective lenses in it, and Naruto put it on, the mask blending in perfectly with the muscleshirt he wore.

"I need a cool codename, too!" Naruto said as he plopped down in one of the chairs in front of the Sandaime's desk, crossing his arms. "Like, Spider Ninja, or Spider-Boy!"

"How about Spider-Man?" the Sandaime asked in jest, but immediately regretted it when Naruto perked up, rolling up his mask to show his face, a massive grin plastered on it.

"Spider-Man! That's awesome, Jiji!"

The Sandaime pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut. He had to learn when to just keep quiet around Naruto...

"But, you know, a Spider-Man is nothing without webs, is he?" Naruto asked suddenly, humming. "Wouldn't it be totally cool if I could, like, shoot webs out of my hands or something?"

The Sandaime hummed, not really having listened to Naruto. Then, he blinked as what Naruto had said sank in. He rose from his chair. That... would be really good, actually. Spiderweb was incredibly tough. Proportionately, 'human-sized' spiderweb should be able to keep a grown man in place...

Looking to Naruto, he found the boy clinging to the ceiling, holding out his hands with his middle and ring fingers pressed against his palms, making little "P-chu!" sounds as he pretended to shoot spiderweb out of his hands.

"Naruto, come with me," the Sandaime said, waiting for Naruto to drop from the ceiling, which he did only a few seconds later, walking up to the Sandaime.

"Where are we going, Jiji?"

"To make you web-shooters," the Sandaime said, and Naruto's face lit up with excitement.

–

One year turned into two years, and now Naruto found himself walking through the Academy. Thanks to the Sandaime pulling some strings, Naruto hadn't needed to take the Exam, and was placed directly onto a team. Apparently, he was to team up with two others his age, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke.

Reaching the right door, Naruto heard the voice of Iruka-sensei saying, "Alright, and Team Seven is... Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto."

Murmurs broke out on the other side of the door, and Naruto grinned to himself, putting on his mask and getting ready to make his entrance.

"Iruka-sensei!" came a girl's voice. "Who is this Naruto you're talking about?"

At that moment, Naruto opened the door and stepped inside. He waved at the pink-haired girl who was standing up, probably the one who had just spoken.

"That would be me."

"Naruto here has been receiving special training, and has special permission to join the graduating teams," Iruka said to the class as Naruto walked over to the pink-haired girl, who was sitting next to a brooding, black-haired boy, probably Uchiha Sasuke from what Naruto had heard.

"Hey there!" Naruto said with a grin behind his mask as he sat down next to Sakura. "I guess we're in the same team then, huh?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm not interested in anyone but Sasuke-kun, so don't even try..."

"Hah?" Naruto asked, scratching his head. "Who'd want a loud-mouthed flatchest?"

Gasps went through the class, and Iruka palmed his face as Sakura froze. She slowly turned to Naruto, who tilted his head to the side, honestly expecting an answer.

Sakura swung at Naruto, who casually leaned back. She swung again and again, and Naruto easily dodged again and again, scratching his ear.

"Wow, you really suck at this," Naruto said casually. "Are you really a ninja?"

Sakura cried out with rage as she started swinging faster and faster, and still Naruto effortlessly dodged. He noticed how the Uchiha was glancing at him with something akin to interest in his eyes.

"Enough," Naruto said suddenly, catching Sakura's fist. "We don't have time to play around right now."

"Who's playing?" Sakura demanded, and Naruto laughed.

"What, you were seriously trying to hit me?"

"Naruto!" Iruka exclaimed suddenly, and Naruto looked to him, dodging another swing from Sakura without even glancing at her.

"Yes, sensei?"

"I know it's been two years, but I trust you haven't forgotten how to act in the classroom?"

"Of course not," Naruto said, dodging another punch. "She's the one swinging, not me."

"Sakura, enough!" Iruka said, and Sakura froze, looking around, as if just now realizing that she wasn't alone with Naruto. Blushing furiously, she sat down and buried her face in her hands.

"As I was saying, Team Eight..."

–

"Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can..." Naruto sang to himself as he walked on his hands on the desk above that which Sakura and Sasuke sat at. They were waiting for their jounin sensei, who was more than an hour late.

"Why is our sensei so damn late?" Sakura demanded, twitching with anger.

"Maybe he needed to take a shit?" Naruto suggested, and a blush sprang up on Sakura's face as she spun to glare at him.

"Language!"

"Bite me," Naruto said simply as he jumped with his arms and did a full flip, landing on his hands again. He was getting bored. He'd never been good at simply sitting around, and he really wanted to try out his new web-shooters. They were finally finished, and he was stuck in a boring classroom waiting for a sensei that never seemed to show up...

The door opened, and a lazy-looking man with a face mask and his headband down to cover his left eye stepped inside, looking around lazily. Naruto flipped to his feet and sat down on the desk, glaring at the man through the reflective lenses on his mask.

"About freaking time! I was going insane waiting for you!"

"So sorry I'm late," the man said in a voice that clearly told them that he could care less that he was late. "You see, a black cat crossed my path, and I had to take the long way here."

"What a blatant lie!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at the man, who chuckled.

"Meet me on the roof," he said simply, before leaving the room. Naruto shrugged and headed for the window, wall-crawling up to the roof to shocked looks from Sakura and Sasuke.

"Well, let's begin by introducing ourselves," the man said once everyone was gathered on the roof.

"What do you want to know?" Sakura asked, and the man shrugged.

"How about your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, and things like that?"

"Why don't you go first?" Naruto asked, to which Sakura nodded.

"Yeah, you look kinda suspicious."

"Oh... me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi... I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes... Dreams for the future... hm... And I have lots of hobbies..."

"So, all we learned was his name?" Sakura asked Naruto and Sasuke, none of who replied.

"Now it's your turn, let's start on the right," Kakashi said, and Naruto saluted lazily.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he introduced. "Nice to meet you. My likes... eh, they're many, as are my dislikes. My dream for the future is to surpass the Hokage, and then have all the people of this village acknowledge my existence!"

Kakashi's eye widened at that. Then, it slowly went back to its normal lazy look.

"As for my hobbies... Training, I guess," Naruto said with a shrug. "Oh, and hanging out with the Jiji."

"Alright, next," Kakashi said, looking to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And... I can't really call it a dream... but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan, and... to kill a certain man."

"Okay. Lastly, the girl."

"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is... well, the person I like is..." Sakura blushed. "And, um... my dream for the future... um... Hell yeah!" she exclaimed happily, blushing furiously. Then, she went serious. "What I dislike is Naruto!"

Naruto raised his hand. "I'd like to add pink-haired flatchests to my list of dislikes, please," he said, only to dodge a swing from Sakura.

"Well, that's enough for the introductions," Kakashi said, crossing his arms. "Tomorrow, we'll start our duties as shinobi. First, we're going to do something with just the four of us. Survival training."

Naruto perked up, and Sakura blinked.

"Why is our first duty a training? We've had enough training at the Academy," she said.

"This isn't a normal training. This time, I'm your opponent," Kakashi said, then started chuckling. Sakura furrowed her larger than average brow.

"What's so funny, sensei?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just that when I tell you this, you guys are totally going to freak out," Kakashi said, smiling. Then, he went completely serious. "Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be chosen to become genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy. This training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate of over sixty-six percent!"

Sakura's jaw damn near hit the floor from shock, and Naruto perked up even further. The Sandaime hadn't told him about that. Kakashi laughed.

"I told you you'd freak out!" he said. "Anyway, tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground. Bring all the shinobi tools you have. Oh, and skip breakfast, or you might throw up."

"Can't stop me eating breakfast..." Naruto muttered as Kakashi disappeared with a puff of smoke.

–

"Hey, guys, good morning!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura roared when Kakashi was two hours late to the survival training. Kakashi skillfully ignored Sakura and reached into his backpack, taking out an alarm clock and setting it down on one of the three logs that had been set up on the training ground.

"Okay, it's set for noon," Kakashi said and reached into his pocket, taking out two small bells and holding them out. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time's up. Those who don't have a bell by noon gets no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps, but I'll also eat right in front of you."

Naruto grinned behind his mask when he heard Sakura and Sasuke's stomachs growl in protest. Naruto would never skip the most important meal of the day.

"You only have to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to the stump. And... the person who doesn't take a bell fails, so at least one of you will be sent back to the Academy. If you want, you can use your shuriken and kunai. You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

"But, you'll be in danger, sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, and Naruto scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, right, like a genin without any real skills can lay a hand on a jounin..."

"SHUT UP!" Sakura roared and swung at Naruto, who dodged.

"Don't worry, I doubt I'll be in any real danger," Kakashi said, smiling. Alright, let's get started. Ready... Begin!"

With that, everyone leapt out of the clearing.

Sakura was running through the woods, trying to find a good hiding spot, when someone appeared before her, making her cry out in surprise.

It was Naruto, hanging upside down from some kind of nylon-like string of some sort.

"You idiot!" Sakura hissed. "You made me reveal my position."

"A ninja should always be ready for anything, idiot," Naruto said simply. "Anyway, I came here to help."

Sakura blinked, and Naruto let go of the string, flipping in the air and landing on his feet in front of her.

"Help?" Sakura asked, confused, getting a nod from Naruto.

"You're the weakest link in this team. You know it, I know it, Sasuke knows it," Naruto said, only to dodge a swing from Sakura. He dodged three more, then easily caught the fifth punch. "See? Weakest. You don't stand a chance against Kakashi-sensei, so how about I help you?"

"No way! Why would I want help from you?" Sakura hissed as Naruto let go of her hand. "Sasuke-kun and I will get the bells, and leave you in the dust! Then you'll see who's weak!"

"Ah well, I tried. Don't say I didn't warn you," Naruto said, then raised his arm, pressing his middle and ring fingers against his palm. Sakura's eyes widened when the same nylon-like substance shot out of Naruto's wrist using some kind of metallic device sewn into his gloves. The thread latched onto a tree branch like spiderweb, and Naruto pulled, bending the branch. Then, he let go, and was flung into the woods, leaving Sakura alone.

–

The next time Naruto appeared, it was before none other than Kakashi, who tilted his head to the side when Naruto landed in front of him, some distance away.

"I don't think you're grasping the concept of hiding," Kakashi said, scratching his head, and Naruto shrugged.

"None of the others want my help, so I figured I'd try to take you on one-on-one," he said simply, before charging.

'The Hokage warned me about underestimating Naruto,' Kakashi thought, his hand reaching for the pouch on his hip. 'Maybe I won't have time to read my book... Too bad, I really wanted to know what happens next...'

Naruto reached Kakashi and immediately flipped over him, landing on his hands and attempting a helicopter kick. Kakashi ducked under the kick and made to sweep Naruto's hands out from under him, but Naruto easily jumped over it and flipped to his feet. He jumped over a punch from Kakashi, going for a sweeping kick, which connected with the surprised Kakashi. Kakashi didn't allow himself to fall on his back, however, and immediately flipped back onto his feet.

Naruto flipped back, putting some distance between him and Kakashi, who hummed as he spun to look at Naruto, a pleased look on his face.

"Well, your speed is amazing for a genin, I admit, as it your agility. Your strength is well above average as well."

"Thanks," Naruto said as he raised his arms. "Hey, wanna see something really cool?"

"Hm?"

Naruto shot webbing from his wrists. The webbing shot past Kakashi on either side of him, into the bushes behind him and latching onto two trees. Naruto pulled, stretching the webbing as far as he could, taking advantage of Kakashi's surprise, and let go, sending himself rocketing toward Kakashi, whose eye only had the time to widen before Naruto crashed right into his chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Woo!" Naruto whooped as he let go of the webs, flipping in the air and stomping down at the spot where Kakashi would have been, had the jounin not rolled out of the way.

Kakashi flipped to his feet, only to get knocked right into the air by a kick from Naruto. Naruto fired three strings of webbing at Kakashi, and pulled, slamming the jounin into the ground, only for Kakashi to disappear in a puff of smoke, leaving a log in his place.

"Damn..." Naruto muttered, gritting his teeth. He had him there.

–

Noon... Sakura was tied to the middle stump, Naruto sat on the stump to the right of her, and Sasuke sat in the grass to the left of her, leaning his back against the stump.

"Alright, first things first," Kakashi said, crossing his arms. "Who's got the bells?"

A jingle was heard when Naruto reached into his pocket, taking out two bells, which made the others go wide-eyed.

'No way! Naruto managed to get both bells?' Sakura thought in surprise.

'Damn it... I could hardly even touch Kakashi...' Sasuke thought as he looked at Naruto in a whole new light.

"But I don't want them," Naruto said simply, tossing one bell to Sasuke, and the other one at Sakura's feet. "Let them pass. I can always wait another year."

Kakashi's eye widened. Then, he smiled. "Alright, I've got good news for all of you. None of you need to go back to the Academy."

"R-Really?" Sakura asked, her eyes widening in surprise. "But all I did was pass out... was that enough?"

"That's right," Kakashi said, then looked to Sasuke and Sakura. "You two... should quit being ninja!"

Total silence followed this statement.

"Quit being ninja?" Sakura asked, gulping. "I-I know we didn't get the bells, but why?"

"Because you two are just punks who don't deserve to be ninja."

Sasuke growled and charged forward, intent on attacking Kakashi, but in a flash, he found himself on the ground, with Kakashi sitting on top of him, Sasuke's arm pulled up behind his back.

"That's why you're just punks," Kakashi said simply.

"NO! DON'T STEP ON SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura roared, and Naruto flinched, his enhanced senses amplifying the shout.

"Are you guys underestimating ninja, huh?" Kakashi asked, glaring at Sakura. "Why do you think that you were divided into teams and are doing this training?"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"Basically, only Naruto was able to grasp the answer to this test."

"Answer?" Sakura asked, while Naruto tilted his head to the side, listening intently to see if he really had grasped it.

"Yes. The answer that helps you pass this test," Kakashi said, making Sakura sweat at his glare.

"So... when are you going to tell us?"

"It's teamwork." Kakashi glanced at Naruto, then back at Sakura. "Naruto was a special case, since he got the bells himself, but the point was for the three of you to work together to get the bells."

Sakura blinked. "W-Wait a minute! What do you mean by teamwork? There are only two bells! Even if we worked together and got the bells, one of us would still fail! That would just make us fight each other!"

"Of course! This test is purposely set up to make you fight amongst yourselves," Kakashi said, making Sakura go wide-eyed.

"Huh?"

"The purpose is to see whether you can forget about your own interest, and successfully work together under these designed circumstances. Naruto was the only one who passed. Sakura! Instead of accepting Naruto's help, you were only thinking about Sasuke, who was far away. Sasuke! You just assumed the others would get in your way and tried to do everything yourself! The duties are done by the team. Of course, superior individual skill is important to a ninja, but what's even more important is teamwork!" Kakashi reached into his kunai pouch. "Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger, and even get you killed. For example," he said and took out a kunai, placing it at Sasuke's throat. "Sakura! Untie yourself and kill Naruto, or Sasuke dies!"

Sakura's eyes widened in shock. "WHAT?"

"See? If a hostage is taken, you will have tough choices and then die. You will be risking your lives in these duties," Kakashi said as he got off Sasuke, and walked over to a large stone not far from the logs, where several names were carved into it. "Look at this, the numerous names carved on this stone. These are ninja who are recognized as heroes of the village."

"Cool," Naruto said. He'd always wanted to be seen as a hero.

"However, these aren't normal heroes. They are all heroes who died while on duty. This is a memorial. My best friend's name is also carved here..." Kakashi looked back at the three ninja. "You all take a lesson from Naruto. He was willing to go back to the Academy so that you two could pass. For that, all three of you pass. But I want you all to remember something that was said to me once. 'Those who disobey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.'"

Sakura gaped, Sasuke's eyes widened, and Naruto grinned widely at those words. That was a code he could see himself living by! Kakashi gave them a thumbs up.

"That ends the training. All of you pass! Alright, starting tomorrow, Genin Team Number Seven will begin its duties!"

–

**First chapter complete! Please let me know what you think, alright?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter, fresh out of my head! We move to Wave, where the gang encounter an enemy we're all very familiar with! Therefore, I won't hold you up any longer! Read and Review, please!**

–

"AAAAH, MY BELOVED TORA-CHAN! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"

"Heh... Stupid cat," Naruto muttered as he watched Madam Shijimi, the Fire Daimyou's wife, trying to extricate her beloved cat from the ball of webbing it was encased in. Behind Kakashi's back, Naruto and Sasuke exchanged fist bumps.

"Now," the Sandaime said in the mission office as Madam Shijimi took the sticky cat ball out of the room. "Kakashi's Team Seven, your next duty is... Hm... Babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, help with the potato digging, and-"

The Sandaime got no further as the paper was webbed out of his hand, courtesy of Naruto, who glared at him behind his mask.

"No way, Jiji!" he exclaimed. "I want to do something more exciting! These are just glorified chores, not ninja missions!"

"YOU IDIOT!" Iruka, sitting next to the Sandaime, roared as he shot to his feet. "You're just a rookie! Everyone starts off with these simple duties and work their way up!"

"But this is all crap!" Naruto exclaimed. "These duties are about as shitty as Kakashi-sensei's excuses for being late!"

Naruto immediately had to dodge a fist from Kakashi.

"Naruto! It seems I have to explain to you what these duties are all about," the Sandaime said, clearing his throat. "Listen, every day, the village receives numerous requests, from babysitting to assassination. Each request is written down on these lists, and divided into an A, B, C, D ranking based on difficulty. The village is also divided based on skill. Starting with me to the jounin, chunnin, and genin. The missions are then handed out based on their abilities. And if the duty is completed successfully, we receive payment from the client. You guys just recently became genin. D-rank missions are perfect for..." The Sandaime trailed off when Naruto was sitting on the floor, back to him, fiddling with his web-shooters. "Hey! Listen!"

"I... I apologize," Kakashi apologized for Naruto, scratching the back of his head.

"Blah, blah, blah, you always give all these boring lectures, Jiji!" Naruto said with a groan as he turned back to the Sandaime. "But you know, I'm not the troublemaking brat I once was! I'm now a troublemaking ninja, you know!"

The Sandaime was silent for a while. Then, he smirked and nodded.

"Very well, if you want it that much, I'll give you a C-rank mission. It's a protection mission of a certain individual. But I'm warning you, Naruto-kun, if you fail this mission, you will be sent back to the Academy!"

"Don't worry, Jiji!" Naruto said as he stood up. "I won't fail!"

"Very well, I shall introduce the client. Hey! Will you come in here?"

Into the mission office stepped a very drunk-looking old man with scarred hands, one of which was holding a sake bottle.

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats! Especially the shortest one with the super stupid-looking mask. Are you really a ninja, huh?"

Naruto twitched, and he made to web the man into oblivion, but Kakashi seemed to have anticipated this, as he grabbed Naruto's wrists to stop him from doing so.

"Don't attack the client," Kakashi chided calmly. Naruto growled and nodded, allowing Kakashi to release him.

"I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna," the man said. "I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

–

"Alright, let's go!" Naruto said excitedly as they headed out of the gates of Konoha. He had never truly left the village before, so this was really exciting for him. He had so far only gone a few feet away from the walls in the woods, so...

"Hey, am I really going to be safe with this brat?" Tazuna asked, pointing at Naruto, who twitched.

"He may act silly, but Naruto is strong," Kakashi said, putting a hand on Sakura's head. "They all are. You'll be perfectly safe."

They all started walking, Naruto keeping watch at the front. He felt a strange tingling in the back of his head, as though he was in danger. It was the same tingling he felt when he was training with the Sandaime, and he was about to get attacked. He supposed it was his instincts acting up.

As they walked, Sakura looked to Tazuna.

"Tazuna-san?"

"What?"

"You're from the Wave Country, right?"

"What about it?"

"Kakashi-sensei, do they have ninja in that country too?"

"No, not in the Wave Country," Kakashi said, shaking his head. "But in most other countries, they do. The culture and customs may be different, but Hidden Villages exist, and so do ninja."

Kakashi went into a long-winded explanation of the Five Great Countries, but Naruto couldn't bring himself to listen. That annoying tingling sensation was getting stronger. Now, however, it felt like the danger was coming from in front of them, and not from behind them. Was there really danger nearby, or was it just Naruto's imagination? After all, the tingling sensation seemed to come from a puddle of water, but there was no real danger with that, was there?

The answer came a few seconds later, when two strange ninjas came out of the puddle, one of them throwing the other over Kakashi. A chain connecting the two ninja wrapped around Kakashi, and tore him to pieces to a cry of, "One down!"

"SENSEI!" Sakura cried.

In what felt like less than a second, the two ninja were behind Naruto, saying, "Two down," in unison.

They never managed to kill him, however, as just as they cocked their arms back to wrap their chain around him, Naruto jumped and spun in the air, nailing them both with a kick to the face. Sasuke took this time to charge in, throwing a shuriken which knocked the chain into a tree. He then attached it there using a kunai, before landing on their arms. He put his hands down on their arms, and also kicked them in the face.

The two ninja disconnected the chain from their arms and charged toward Tazuna from two different directions. Sasuke got in front of one of them with Sakura, while Naruto webbed the other ninja's feet to the ground.

"What?" the ninja demanded as he tried to move his feet, only to discover that he couldn't. Naruto rushed forward and grabbed the ninja's shoulder, forcefully spinning him around, tearing the webbing on the ground, before shooting his web at him, encasing the spinning ninja in a web cocoon.

"What is this?" the ninja demanded, while Naruto just kept webbing him.

"Oh, this? This is a special web-fluid that I designed with the Hokage, but you don't wanna know that right now. Night, night," Naruto said and swung his fist, punching the man hard enough in the face to knock him out. He hit the ground with a thud.

"Good work, Naruto," came Kakashi's voice from behind him, making Naruto spin around to see Kakashi having clotheslined the other ninja. Where Kakashi's body parts had once lain, now lay a bunch of torn-up pieces of log. "You too, Sasuke, Sakura, good work."

Sakura blushed at the praise, and Naruto set about, at Kakashi's orders, webbing the two ninja up at a tree, keeping them firmly in place.

"Can they get out of that?" Kakashi asked, pointing at the two ninja, and Naruto shook his head.

"The Jiji designed this webbing to be tougher than ninja wire, and it won't dissolve for twenty-four hours," Naruto said, getting a nod of approval from Kakashi.

"Good. Now, Tazuna-san?"

"Y-Yes?" Tazuna asked, sweating.

"I need to talk to you," Kakashi said, giving Tazuna a serious look. "These are the Demon Brothers from Kirigakure no Sato, ninjas known to keep fighting no matter what."

"How did you read our movements?" one of the Demon Brothers asked.

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days, a puddle like that shouldn't exist," Kakashi said simply.

"Why did you let the brats fight if you knew that?" Tazuna asked.

"If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly, but... there was something I needed to find out... who their target was."

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked.

"Meaning, were they after you, or one of us. We haven't heard that there are ninja after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves and gangs. This has now become at least a B-rank mission. This was supposed to be simple protection until you completed the bridge."

Tazuna flinched and looked down at the ground in shame, while Kakashi continued.

"If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been an expensive B-rank. I'm sure you have a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission details. We are now operating outside our duties."

"We... We aren't ready for this mission," Sakura said, sweating with fear. "Let's quit! We should head back to the village..."

"No way!" Naruto said, crossing his arms. "We took this mission. To adapt to the unexpected is one of the skills a ninja should possess, right? Let's protect the old man until he completes the bridge, provided that he gives up all the details!"

"I agree," Sasuke said. "We can't leave now."

"A-Alright," Sakura said immediately, following Sasuke like a lovesick puppy. "I guess we can continue..."

"Sensei," Tazuna said. "I... have to talk to you. It's about the mission..."

Kakashi glanced at Tazuna, who took a step toward him.

"You're this, this job is most likely outside of your duties. It turns out that a super dangerous man is after my life."

"Super dangerous man?" Kakashi asked, narrowing his eye. "Who?"

"You've probably at least heard his name before. The wealthy shipping magnate, a man named Gatou."

"Huh? Gatou?" Kakashi asked, his eye widening in surprise. "From that Gatou Company? He's said to be one of the world's few extremely wealthy people."

"Yes... Officially he runs a large shipping company, but secretly sells drugs and other illegal items using ninja and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He's a very nasty man. It was about a year ago when he set his eyes on Wave Country. Through money and violence, he quickly took control of the country's shipping industry. Now he has a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge."

"I see," Sakura said, rubbing her chin in thought. "Since you're building the bridge, you're in the way."

"So, those ninja were hired by Gatou?" Sasuke asked, and Tazuna inclined his head in an affirmative manner.

"But what I don't understand is... if you knew ninja would be after you, why did you hide that fact when you hired us?" Kakashi asked, to which Tazuna sighed.

"The Wave Country is super poor. Even the daimyou has no money. Of course, we don't have much money, either. Not enough for the expensive B-rank mission, anyway," Tazuna said. "Well, if you quit the mission now, I will definitely be killed. But... Don't worry about it! If I die, my cute ten-year old grandson will just cry for a few days! Oh yeah, and my daughter will live a sad life hating Konoha ninja forever. But it won't be your fault. Not at all!"

Naruto twitched. Way to lay on the guilt...

"W-Well, I guess we have no choice..." Kakashi said, sighing. "We will protect you at least until you get back to your country."

–

And so, Naruto and his team found themselves walking through Wave Country, heading for Tazuna's home. Naruto was feeling that strange tingling sensation again, and this time he knew there was danger. He would never doubt that feeling again.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whispered to his jounin sensei. "My spider sense is tingling."

"Spider sense?" Kakashi asked, and Naruto nodded.

"It's sort of a danger sense I've developed. I get this tingling sensation in my head whenever there's danger around. I got it back with the Demon Brothers, and I'm getting it again now."

Kakashi nodded. "I'm getting a bad feeling as well. For now, we should just- GET DOWN!"

Everyone threw themselves to the ground on Kakashi's order, but Naruto, however, obeyed his instincts and jumped, doing a backflip. As he flipped through the air, a massive sword came spinning through the air. Naruto reached down and latched onto it with his hand, followed by his feet, and was sent flying with the sword into a tree, where Naruto stuck to the sword with wide eyes.

"That was intense!"

With a blur, a man with a bare upper body and the lower part of his face covered in bandages landed on the hilt of the giant sword, glaring down at Naruto.

"Impressive moves, brat."

"Well, well, if it isn't the Kirigakure missing-nin Momochi Zabuza-kun!" Kakashi said from below. "Naruto, get down from there!"

"What?" Naruto asked, only to duck under a kick from the man, called Zabuza. He flipped down, so that he was sitting on the underside of the sword, and glared up at the man. "Woah! That was dangerous, man! I should- Hup!" Naruto leapt away when Zabuza threw a kunai at him, landing on the ground next to Kakashi.

"Get back, Naruto," Kakashi said, reaching for his headband. "This might be a little tough unless I use this..."

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi," Zabuza spoke. "Sorry, but... the old man is mine."

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san," Kakashi ordered his genin. "Do not enter the fight. That's the teamwork here. Zabuza, first..." Kakashi pulled up his headband, to show an eye with a red iris that had three strange tomoes surrounding the pupil. "...fight me!"

"Hoh, I already get to see the famous Sharingan. I'm honored," Zabuza said, while Naruto stared at Kakashi in surprise.

'Sharingan? Didn't the old man tell me that the Sharingan was an Uchiha bloodline limit?' he thought, but then remembered Kakashi's orders to protect Tazuna, moving in to do so with Sasuke and Sakura. The mist started getting thicker.

"When I was a member of the Kirigakure ANBU, I kept a handbook. It included information about you. And this is what it said: 'The man who has copied over one thousand jutsu... Copy Ninja Kakashi.' Now, let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man. But... Kakashi! It seems I have to beat you first..."

With that, Zabuza pulled his sword out of the tree and jumped onto the lake, somehow standing on the surface, and put both his hands in half-Ram seals, holding one up in the air, and the other in front of his face.

"Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Technique)..."

The mist got so thick that Zabuza disappeared from view. Naruto started almost going insane, as his spider sense went off like crazy.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi said. "Momochi Zabuza... As a member of Kirigakure, he was known as en expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead... It's not like I can use the Sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful."

"Eight choices..." came Zabuza's voice from all around them in the mist. "Liver, lungs, spine, clevical vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart... Well then... which vital spot should I go for?"

Naruto didn't hear any more. Kakashi started releasing an insane amount of killer intent, and that, coupled with the spider sense, was driving Naruto crazy. He couldn't hear anything around him, as he could only focus on the tingling.

Then, acting only on instinct, Naruto ducked and lashed out with a mule kick, nailing who he found to be Zabuza in the face when the man appeared between the genin and Tazuna. He was shocked, however, when Zabuza, who had been sent flying, exploded in a shower of water.

"Nice, Naruto!" Kakashi said, only for his eyes to widen when the massive sword belonging to Zabuza cleave right through him, slicing him in two. Kakashi, however, exploded into water as well, making Zabuza's eyes widen.

'Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone)? No way, he copied it through the mist?'

Suddenly, Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza, a kunai at his throat.

"Don't move. It's over."

"It's over?" Zabuza asked with a chuckle. "But damn, that was impressive of you. At that time, you had already copied my jutsu... and you had your clone say those words of comfort to the brat to attract my attention, while the real you hid in the mist and waited for me to show myself... But..."

Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi.

"I'm also not that easy..."

Kakashi's eyes widened, and he slit the throat of the Mizu Bunshin in front of him, before ducking under a sword swing from Zabuza. The sword dug into the ground, but Zabuza just switched hands and, using the sword hilt to push off, kicked Kakashi into the air.

"Foolish," Naruto heard Zabuza saying through the mist, and a splash was heard. The mist cleared enough for Naruto to see Kakashi come out of the water, only for Zabuza to appear behind him, going through hand seals. "Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique)!"

A dome of water formed around Kakashi, trapping him inside.

"You tried to escape to the water. Big mistake," Zabuza said, keeping one hand in the water dome, chuckling. "Now I have you in an inescapable prison. It's tougher if you can't move, you know?" he said, putting his free hand in a half-Ram seal. "Now, Kakashi, we can finish things later. First, I'll take care of them. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A water clone rose into shape in front of the genin and Tazuna, chuckling.

"Wearing those headbands and acting like ninja... A real ninja is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death. Only when you're good enough to be listed in my handbook can you start calling yourselves ninja. You are not ninja."

The mist once more grew thicker, and Naruto ducked when his spider sense told him, avoiding getting kicked by the Zabuza clone.

"Phew, close one!" Naruto said, then dodged back to avoid a backhand. He dodged and dodged and dodged, making noises such as "Hep!" "Hup!" "Whoo!" and "Wow!" as he did. Zabuza growled, and Naruto jumped over a kick to his head, landing on Zabuza's outstretched leg in a crouch.

"Have you ever even done this before, mister ninja?"

"Shut up, brat!"

"Woah, duck!" Naruto exclaimed after jumping over a punch from Zabuza, ducking to avoid another kick to his head. "Jump!" he yelled, flipping over Zabuza's head, avoiding another punch. He landed on his hands, and with a cry of, "Mule kick!" he performed said move, nailing this Zabuza clone in the face as well with devastating force, exploding it before it could even be sent flying. "And now dripping wet..."

Naruto stood up, shaking off as much of the water as he could, and turned to the real Zabuza.

"Hey, you eyebrowless freak! How about putting this down in your handbook? 'The man who will surpass all others, Spider-Man!'"

"Way to go, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed as the mist let up again, showing Naruto standing alone. Sasuke, however, was just staring at Naruto in shock.

"Don't get cocky, brat," Zabuza said. "A Mizu Bunshin only has one tenth of the original's strength."

"Well then, mister ninja, how about you yourself pick on someone who's not really your size, but is pretty awesome nonetheless?"

"Did you really think I'd release this prison so easily, brat?" Zabuza asked, and Naruto shrugged.

"I didn't, really."

With that, Naruto shot webbing at Zabuza's feet and pulled. Zabuza was yanked off his feet, and his hand was pulled out of the water prison. Scrambling to his feet, Zabuza growled as he reached for his massive sword.

"You little brat!" he exclaimed and pulled his sword, only to find a kunai at his throat.

"Don't move..." came the voice of the dripping wet Kakashi, who was glaring at him. Zabuza stared back at him in shock, but slowly relaxed, chuckling.

"Heh, I got careless and released the jutsu."

"Wrong, you didn't release it. You were forced to release it," Kakashi said, making Zabuza twitch in anger. Zabuza ducked under the kunai and dashed some distance away from Kakashi, spinning around and going through a long chain of handseals at an impossible speed. What was even more impossible was that Kakashi mimicked him perfectly.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Element: Water Dragon Blast Technique)!"

Two amazingly huge water dragons rose out of the lake and crashed into each other, splashing water everywhere, also drenching Naruto again.

Kakashi and Zabuza clashed, sword against kunai, and then leapt away from each other. Zabuza circled to the right, Kakashi doing the same. He then made to do the Kirigakure jutsu again, only for his eyes to widen when Kakashi was also in that position. Slowly, Zabuza lowered his left arm, and Kakashi did the same, just as slowly.

"...reading them," Kakashi said suddenly, and Naruto, shaking the water off himself, blinked. Did he miss something? Zabuza put his hand in a seal, and Kakashi said, "...freaky eye is pissing me off, right?"

"Heh, all you do is copying me!" Zabuza, his eyes bloodshot and panicking, said as he formed a Ram seal. "You can't beat me, you monkey bastard!"

Zabuza's eyes widened even further. That last line was said by Kakashi at the exact same time.

"Damn you! I'll make it so you can never open that mouth again!" Zabuza roared as he and Kakashi flashed through seals. Then, Zabuza froze, his eyes bugging out as sweat started appearing on his brow. He seemed to be looking at something over Kakashi's left shoulder, as Kakashi went through a couple more seals without Zabuza.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Element: Grand Waterfall Technique)!" Kakashi called out as a massive surge of water smashed into Zabuza, washing a massive amount of water onto the shore, and drenching Naruto for the third time that day.

"Oh, come on!" Naruto yelled in rage as he twitched. "Wet... Wet again..."

Zabuza smashed into a tree, and was immediately pierced in the arms and legs by kunai, as Kakashi landed on a branch up in the tree.

"It's over," Kakashi said simply, taking out another kunai.

"How...? Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked, and Kakashi nodded seriously.

"Yeah. Your future is death."

From out of nowhere, two senbon needles came flying through what was left of the mist, piercing Zabuza's neck. A chuckle was heard from a tree not far from Kakashi's. On it stood a very feminine-looking boy wearing a Hunter-Nin mask with the Kiri symbol on it.

"Will you look at that? He died," the Hunter-Nin said with child-like joy in his voice.

"Hey, who the hell is this guy?" Naruto asked, charging forward and wrenching out his clothes, getting a strange feeling from the boy. He looked kinda... evil...

Kakashi jumped down and checked Zabuza's pulse.

"Thank you very much," the boy said with a bow. "I have been looking for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time."

"That mask... You're a Kirigakure Hunter-Nin..."

"Impressive. You are correct," the boy said, nodding. "Yes, my duty is to hunt down Missing-Nins. I'm a member of the Kirigakure Hunter-Nin team." The boy blurred out of view and appeared next to Zabuza's body, picking it up. "Your battle is now over. And now, I must dispose of this body, since it seems to be a body with many secrets. Farewell."

With that, accompanied by swirling leaves and a whistling wind, the boy disappeared. Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled his headband down.

"Now we have to get Tazuna-san back home," he said. "Let's go!"

Tazuna gave a joyful laugh. "Super thanks, guys! Come over to my house and relax for a while!"

With that, Kakashi collapsed.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

–

**Second chapter complete! Please let me know what you think, alright?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Third chapter, fresh out of my head! Wave arc continues and ends! Therefore, I won't hold you up any longer! Read and Review, please! Oh, and a picture of Naruto in his outfit is in my profile!**

–

"What's wrong, sensei?" Naruto asked at Tazuna's house, where Kakashi had just woken up from what seemed like a nightmare.

"Huh?" Kakashi asked, blinking. "Oh, well, body erasing teams usually dispose of the person they killed right there."

"So what?" Sakura asked, and Kakashi sighed.

"Don't you see? How did that masked boy dispose of Zabuza's body?"

"How would we know? He took it away," Sakura said, only to get a stare from Naruto.

"Wow, and you're the smartest ninja in the class? I fear for the rest of the class..."

"Yeah, if he needed proof of his work, he could have just taken the head," Kakashi said. "And the weapon used to kill Zabuza..."

Naruto hummed, crossing his arms as he thought about it. Then, his eyes widened, and he saw that Sasuke had come to the same conclusion, muttering a "No way..."

"Yeah, exactly," Kakashi said, scratching his head in exasperation.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tazuna asked.

"Most likely... Zabuza is still alive," Kakashi said, making everyone go wide-eyed in shock.

"Kakashi-sensei, you checked and said that he was dead!" Sakura exclaimed, and Kakashi nodded.

"I did, but he was most likely merely in a near-death state. That needle that Hunter-Nin used... unless it hits a vital organ, it has a low probability of killing your opponent. It's even an item used by doctors in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-Nins know about the body's structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a near-death state is probably easy for them. First, he carried away the body of the much heavier Zabuza. Second, he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that his motive was not to kill Zabuza, but to save him. We can't ignore that possibility."

"Aren't you thinking too much?" Tazuna asked, sweating slightly. "Hunter-Nins are supposed to kill Missing-Nins..."

"You're acting under the impression that the boy really was a Hunter-Nin," Naruto said, crossing his arms. "I knew he was bad. It was just something about the way he dressed. It was an evil style of dress."

"Ignoring Naruto, we will prepare before it's too late. That's a ninja rule. Plus, whether Zabuza is dead or alive, there's no assurances that Gatou hasn't hired an even stronger ninja."

Sensei, what do you mean, preparing before it's too late? You can barely move," Sakura said, and Kakashi chuckled.

"You guys are gonna receive some training."

"Huh? Training?" Sakura asked, twitching. "S-Sensei! What's a little training going to do? Our enemy is a ninja you struggled against even with the Sharingan!"

"Sakura, who saved me while I was struggling?" Kakashi asked, smiling. "You guys are growing rapidly. Especially Naruto! You've improved the most."

"Gosh, stop it," Naruto said shyly, waving Kakashi off. "You're gonna make me blush, you."

"But, obviously, this is just training until I get better. You won't be able to defeat him without me," Kakashi said.

"But, sensei, if Zabuza is alive, he could attack at any time, so shouldn't we get training right away?"

"About that, a person put in a near death state... It should take a while before their body returns to normal."

"So, until then, we train?" Naruto asked, grinning behind his mask. "Sounds kinda fun!"

"That's not fun," a voice said, and they all looked to the doorway to see a young boy, wearing a bucket hat that almost covered his eyes, staring at them.

"Oh! Inari! Where were you?" Tazuna exclaimed happily, spreading his arms out. "Where were you?"

"Welcome home, grandpa," the boy, Inari, said as he walked up to his grandfather, hugging him. Tazuna laughed as he patted Inari on the head.

"Inari, say hello to these people," Tazuna's daughter, the beautiful Tsunami, said. "They are ninja who protected grandpa."

Inari stared at the ninja for a while. Then, he pointed at Naruto and said, "Mom... They're gonna die."

"O-Oi, why did you point at me when you said that?" Naruto demanded, blinking.

"There's no way you can win against Gatou," Inari continued, and Naruto scoffed.

"I can win against anyone," he boasted. "Listen, kid, I'm Spider-Man, the one who will one day become the greatest Hokage ever! Gatou is nothing against me!"

Inari scoffed as well. "What are you, stupid? There's no such thing as a hero!"

Naruto's fists clenched. He wasn't going to lash out at a little kid. There was just no way he could lash out at a little kid! Even if the brat deserved it for those words! Inari turned away from them.

"If you don't want to die, you should leave."

"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazuna asked as Inari walked off.

"To look at the ocean from my room."

–

"Huh? Tree climbing?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from Kakashi, who had just gone through a long-winded explanation on how to climb the tree without using ones hands. All while standing upside down on a branch. "Laaame! I've already done this, sensei!"

"You have?" Kakashi asked, blinking. "I thought it was your newfound abilities that helped you climb things?"

"It is. I used my elbows doing this, since my hands and feet can already stick to things," Naruto said. Kakashi hummed.

"Well, then, Naruto is excused from this training," he said as he started walking down the tree again. "Until the rest of you can do it, Naruto is on constant guard duty of Tazuna while he completes the bridge."

"Got it," Naruto said and jumped into the air, before firing a web into a tree and swinging away.

He really loved this, swinging through the trees, getting an indescribable feeling of freedom.

And so, Naruto found himself walking through Wave with Tazuna, who decided to stop working on the bridge at noon.

"I'm supposed to bring home food for lunch," Tazuna told Naruto, who nodded as he looked around. All around him, people were suffering. Most of them looked like they hadn't eaten properly for a long time. They reached the store, where there was hardly anything on the shelves. Naruto stood there, watching Tazuna, when he suddenly reached behind him, grabbing the hand of a man whose hand was heading for his kunai pouch. He twisted and spun around, watching the man drop to his knees from the pain.

"Don't even think about it, man," Naruto said, letting go of the man, who scrambled out of the shop.

"You sure surprised me earlier," Tazuna said later as they walked through the town again, having gotten what they needed from the shop. Naruto hummed, but stopped when he spun around again, ready to smack this thief for trying to steal from him, only for his eyes to widen when he saw a kid even younger than himself holding out her hands, looking like she was starving. Naruto reached into his pouch and took out five ration bars, giving them to the kid.

"They may not taste great, but they're nutritious," Naruto told the kid, who lit up with joy, thanking him before running off, clutching the ration bars.

"It's been like this since Gatou came," Tazuna told Naruto as they both watched the kid disappear into the crowd. "All the adults have lost hope. That's why we need that bridge. A symbol of courage... We need for the people to lose their fear and regain the desire to stand up for themselves. If that bridge... If that bridge can be completed... the city will return to that time... The people will return to how they used to be."

"Don't worry, old man," Naruto said with a grin as he turned to Tazuna. "I'll make sure the bridge is completed, even if I have to build it myself! That's a promise!"

–

"Woo! That was refreshing!" Naruto exclaimed after the seventh day of downtime. He had just come back from training. His mask was off, tucked into his pocket safely, and his hands were behind his head as he sat down for dinner. "Training before dinner, and dinner after training, there's nothing better, is there?" he asked happily, panting slightly. He really had overexerted himself during training.

He slumped down at the table, a pleased smile on his face. Inari, sitting across from him, stared hard at him, and soon, tears started building up in his eyes, within seconds pouring down his face.

"Why do you guys bother so hard?" Inari exclaimed angrily, slamming his hands down on the table. "No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gatou's men! No matter what glorious claims you make, or how hard you work, when facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he looked at Inari. Then, he sat up straighter in his chair, only to slump backwards, an arm over the backrest.

"Listen, kid, it doesn't matter how strong they are," he said simply. "It doesn't matter if their ten times stronger, or even a hundred times stronger. This bridge has become something precious to me, you know? And no matter how tough, no matter how sad, you must try and try, and even if you lose your life, protect it with your own two arms!"

Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari all went wide-eyed when Naruto said that for some reason, but Naruto wasn't done.

"So if you want to cry and act like the star of some great tragedy, do so, but you won't stop me from making sure the bridge is completed. Even if it kills me, I will protect it!"

With that, Naruto rose from his chair and walked off.

"I'm gonna go train some more."

–

"Alright, Naruto, today, I want you to stay here," Kakashi, whose body was once more fine, told Naruto, who nodded as Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna walked off to continue working on the bridge.

"You can count on me!" Naruto said, before heading back inside. "Hey, Tsunami-san?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Tsunami said, sitting on the floor with Inari.

"I'm going up to take a nap. If anything happens, just give a shout, alright?"

"I will, Naruto-kun."

Naruto went up to his room and promptly fell asleep. Yesterday's training was rougher on him than he had expected.

He didn't get to sleep for long, however, as a scream woke him up. He shot up in bed and put on his hoodie and mask, rushing out of the room as quietly as possible. Two swordsmen were in the kitchen, in front of Tsunami. Inari was in the doorway to the bathroom, wide-eyed.

"Mom!"

"What, there's a kid?" the swordsman with an eye patch said.

"Don't come! Run away!" Tsunami yelled.

"Should we take him too?"

"We need only one hostage."

"Then... should I kill him?" Eye patch asked, preparing to draw his sword.

Naruto was just about to jump in, when Tsunami cried, "Wait! If you touch that child, I will bite my tongue off and kill myself! You want a hostage, right?"

"Heh, thank your mom, kid," the swordsman with a wool cap said.

"Damn... I wanted to cut something..."

"Give it a rest... You just cut up a bunch of stuff. Let's hurry up and take her."

"I don't think so!" Naruto yelled loudly as he jumped down the stairs to land in front of the swordsmen. "You're not taking that woman anywhere!"

The two swordsmen drew their swords. Naruto's eyes widened behind his mask, and he flinched.

"A-Are those swords?" he asked, cowering slightly. "Are those sharp swords?"

"Yes, they're swords, brat," Eye patch said, grinning. Naruto kept cowering.

"Oh, no, my one weakness... sharp swords... Please, please, don't, I-" Naruto stopped suddenly and shot webbing from his wrists, hitting the swords and knocking them out of the swordsmen's hands, pinning them to the shelves above Tsunami. "Oh, that was just too easy!"

"What the-" Wool cap yelled and tried to move toward his sword, only for the swordsmen to get webbing shot at their feet, pinning them to the floor. Naruto then leapt at them, yelling, "Scissor kick!" while performing said move, knocking both of them out.

That was how the two swordsmen found themselves hanging upside-down from a tree branch outside the house, in a cocoon of webbing.

"Alright, if they're here, that means something is happening at the bridge as well," Naruto told Tsunami and Inari.

"Please, Naruto, don't let anything happen to my grandpa!" Inari said, apparently seeing Naruto in a whole new light. Naruto grinned behind his mask and gave him a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, Inari! No one's dying on my watch! Can I count on you here?"

"Yup!" Inari said, nodding. Tsunami smiled at him.

"Man, it's tough being a hero!" Naruto said with a grin as he ran off, getting a thumbs up from Inari.

"It sure is!"

With that, Naruto jumped into the trees, swinging away.

–

Meanwhile, Sasuke was trapped in a dome consisting of ice mirrors, created by that Haku kid. His arms and legs were bleeding, along with a cut on his cheek. This was insane. That kid had an amazing speed, almost on Naruto's level. Sasuke had seen Naruto move against Zabuza, and he was a blur, just like this kid was. Sasuke wasn't sure if even Naruto could defeat him... Sasuke hated to admit it, but Naruto was faster than him, probably stronger, too, and if Naruto wouldn't stand a chance against him, what hope did Sasuke have?

Wait... Naruto was only better in Taijutsu. Sasuke had Ninjutsu. Nodding, Sasuke flashed through seals. He was going to melt those mirrors.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique)!" he called out as he blew a massive fireball from his mouth, straight at the ice mirrors.

To his immense surprise, the fire died down, showing that the mirrors were perfectly unscathed.

"You can't melt this ice with that level of fire," Haku said simply, then flashed out of his mirror again for another assault.

Something latched onto Sasuke's back, however, and jerked, and Sasuke found himself flying out of the dome of ice mirrors. Landing with a thud on the ground, Sasuke looked back and saw webbing attached to his back.

"Naruto..." he mumbled. He couldn't see the annoying spider boy anywhere in the mist, but he knew he was there.

Meanwhile, Naruto was hiding in the mist, having saved Sasuke and made sure that he wouldn't take anymore hits. Now, all that was left was that kid in the mask.

"Where are you?" the masked kid asked, poking his head out of one of the ice mirrors. That was his mistake. Webbing latched onto his head, and he was pulled into the air, to where Naruto was standing in a crouch on top of the dome of ice mirrors. Naruto grabbed the boy's collar when he came flying at him, and grinned.

"I'm right here," he said, then smashed his forehead into the mask with a cry of, "Forehead!"

Naruto threw the boy to the side, but the boy didn't go over the side of the bridge, and instead got stuck in mid-air, seemingly hanging from nothing. Zabuza looked over his shoulder and cleared the mist enough to see that Naruto had set up a huge spider web on either side of the bridge, connecting to two support beams. The masked boy was stuck in the center of the web, and Naruto jumped over, crawling over the web with ease.

"Welcome to my web, said the spider to the fly!"

Naruto grinned behind his mask as he started wrapping the boy up in a cocoon of webbing, as the mist got even thicker.

"Zabuza-san..." he heard the boy mutter as he struggled uselessly to get out of the cocoon.

"Don't bother," Naruto said as he took two blue cartridges out of his web-shooters, putting them in his kunai pouch and taking out two gray ones instead, replacing them in the web-shooters. "This is my strongest webbing. It's tougher than five layers of ninja wire, and won't dissolve for five days," he said and patted the boy on the head. "Just sit tight and watch the show. Er... If you can see through mist, I mean..."

–

The battle was over. The mist was clearing, and Naruto saw Zabuza standing in front of Kakashi, kept in place by a large pack of dogs, while Kakashi's hand was lit up by a ball of lightning.

"Zabuza-san!" the boy, whose name Naruto had learned was Haku, cried, straining against the webbing. Naruto was greatly surprised when, with a whistle of wind, the boy disappeared, leaving an empty cocoon behind. The boy reappeared between Zabuza and Kakashi, who punched his hand through the boy's chest, making Naruto's eyes widen in shock.

The boy... sacrificed himself for Zabuza... His arms were covered in blood, after straining so hard against the webbing...

Zabuza swung his sword, attempting to cut through both Haku and Kakashi, who grabbed Haku and jumped out of the way.

Naruto landed between Zabuza and Kakashi, glaring at the swordsman with hatred in his eyes, not that anyone could see it. Attempting to cut through the dead to get to the living? Unforgivable! Completely unforgivable!

"Naruto, stay out of this," Kakashi said, laying the boy down and pulling his hand out to glare at Zabuza. "This is my fight."

Zabuza charged at Kakashi, only to get kicked in the gut, sending him stumbling back. Something was wrong, Naruto could see that. Zabuza wasn't fighting at his best at the moment. But why?

Zabuza swung his sword at Kakashi, who rammed two kunai into his right arm, before blurring away to end up behind Zabuza.

"You can't beat me in your current state," Kakashi said simply.

"What?" Zabuza growled out.

"You haven't noticed..." Kakashi sighed as he took out two kunai. "This is goodbye, Devil!" he said and attempted to stab Zabuza in the back. Zabuza swung his sword again, and managed to maneuver so that the kunai went through his left arm instead of his back.

"Now both arms are useless," Kakashi said as Zabuza's sword went flying. "You can't even perform a seal."

"Ooh... You're getting your ass kicked," came a voice from the end of the bridge. "How disappointing."

Everyone looked to see a very short man with a cane, a business suit, and a pair of dark sunglasses standing there, in front of a large group of armed men. He was grinning menacingly.

"Gatou, why are you here? And what's with all these men?" Zabuza asked, glaring at Gatou, who grinned wider.

"The plan has changed... Well, I actually planned to do this from the beginning. Zabuza, I'm going to have you killed here."

"What?" Zabuza growled.

"I never planned on paying you any money. Hiring a normal ninja from a village is expensive and they may betray me... So I get you Missing-Nin who are easy to take care of afterward. I have the ninja battle each other and once they're weakened, I kill them off with numbers. It doesn't cost me anything. Good plan, don't you think? The only problem in the plan was you... Zabuza. The Kirigakure no Kijin? What a joke, if you ask me... Hehe... you're just a cute little baby devil!"

The men started jeering and laughing loudly.

"Kakashi, I'm sorry," Zabuza said. "This fight is over. Now that I have no reason to go after Tazuna, I have no reason to fight you."

"Yeah," Kakashi said, nodding. "You're right."

"Oh yeah..." Gatou said as he walked up to Haku's corpse. "I owe this one, for squeezing my arm until it broke!" he said and kicked Haku. "Heh, he's dead."

"What are you doing, you bastard?" Naruto yelled in a rage as he charged at Gatou, only to get stopped by Kakashi.

"Hey! Look at their numbers! Don't just jump in!"

Naruto growled and looked at Zabuza. "Say something! Weren't you friends?"

"Shut up, kid. Haku is already dead," Zabuza said simply, making Naruto twitch in anger.

"DON'T YOU FEEL ANYTHING AT ALL? WEREN'T YOU TWO ALWAYS TOGETHER?"

"As I was used by Gatou, I used Haku," Zabuza said. "That's all it was. I've said it already... In the world of ninja, there are only those who use, and those who are used. We ninja are simply tools. What I wanted was his blood, not him. I have no regrets."

"Bullshit!" Naruto cried, jerking free from Kakashi's grip.

"Stop, Naruto! We're not fighting him any-"

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled, making Kakashi go wide-eyed. "My enemy is still him!" he yelled and pointed at Haku's corpse. "He really loved you! He loved you enough to sacrifice himself for you! Do you really feel nothing? Do you really... really feel nothing at all? If I become as strong as you... will I really become like you?"

Naruto noticed how tears were starting to fall from his eyes, getting soaked up by his spandex mask.

"Without his own dream... to die as a tool... That's... just too sad..."

"Kid..." Zabuza muttered, and Naruto's enhanced hearing picked up the patter of drops hitting the ground at Zabuza's feet. He looked up at Zabuza, to see tears falling from his eyes.

"You don't... need to say anymore..." Zabuza muttered. "Kid... It pained him to have to fight you guys... Haku fought not only for me, but for you guys, too," he said as he started chewing on his bandages, tearing them up. "He was too kind... I'm glad I got to fight you guys in the end. Yeah, kid... you may be right. Ninja are still human. We may not be able to become emotionless tools..."

Zabuza took a deep breath, now showing his whole face, a peaceful look on his face. Then, he looked at Naruto.

"Kid! Let me borrow your kunai!"

"Huh? Oh..." Naruto said and reached into his kunai pouch, taking out a kunai and throwing it to Zabuza. "Yeah..."

Zabuza caught the kunai in his mouth, and then charged.

–

Two weeks later found Naruto and the rest of Team Seven standing in front of Zabuza and Haku's graves, where they had just given the two dead ninja an offering of food.

"But, sensei," Sakura said suddenly, adjusting the flowers at Zabuza's grave.

"Hm?"

"Were these two correct about ninja?"

"A ninja isn't supposed to pursue his own goals. Becoming the country's tool is the most important thing. That's the same for Konoha."

"Is that what it really means to become a true ninja?" Naruto asked, scoffing. His mask was off in respect to the two dead ninja. "You know what? I don't like it!"

"Do you believe in that too?" Sasuke asked Kakashi, who shrugged.

"Well, each and every ninja has to live while dealing with that issue. Just like Zabuza, and that boy."

"Alright, I've decided," Naruto said suddenly. "I'm going to become a ninja my own way!"

Kakashi's eye widened. Then, he smiled.

–

**Third chapter complete! Please let me know what you think, alright?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Fourth chapter, fresh out of my head! We enter the Chunnin Selection Exams! Therefore, I won't hold you up any longer! Read and Review, please!**

–

The self-proclaimed great Sarutobi Konohamaru-sama was in big trouble. First, he had been chased by that ugly bitch with the big forehead just for telling the truth, and now, he'd run into a big, scary brute with a Sunagakure headband.

"That hurt, you little piece of shit!" the brute said, picking Konohamaru up by his scarf and glaring at him, to panicked cries from Konohamaru's friends, Moegi and Udon.

"Don't, we'll get yelled at later," the female companion of the big brute, who carried a large fan on her back, said.

"I'm sorry, I was messing around," the big ugly forehead bitch apologized meekly, sweating slightly.

"You're all annoying," the kabuki brute said, clenching his fist. "Basically, I hate midgets... Especially younger ones that are rude... Makes me want to kill them."

The brute threw a punch at Konohamaru, but he didn't get further than halfway, before his fist was caught by something. Konohamaru, who had screwed his eyes shut, opened them to see webbing stuck to the back of the brute's hand. The webbing led up to a tree behind the brute, where stood none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

"Hey, hey, kabuki man," Naruto said, holding the string of web that was keeping the brute from punching Konohamaru. Naruto's hoodie was off, and he wore only his skin-tight muscle shirt. The girl with the fan got a bit of a blush on her face.

'He's pretty cut,' she thought with a smirk.

"What are Sunagakure ninja doing in Konoha?" Naruto asked as he crouched on the branch, tilting his head to the side curiously. "Sorry, but we're not interested in buying your sand by the ounce. Take it somewhere else."

"Boss!" Konohamaru cried, and the brute scoffed.

"Another annoying one... You know, I hate show-offs like you the most," he said as he took off the bandaged package on his back, setting it down on the ground.

"Hey, you're even going to use Karasu?" the girl asked in shock.

"Kankuro, stop it," came a voice from the other side of the tree, making Naruto's eyes go wide. His spider sense hadn't gone off. But then again, the guy behind him, a boy his age with spiky, red hair, and the tattoo showing the Kanji for Love over his left eye, probably didn't mean him any harm... at the moment... The boy with the large gourd on his back stood upside-down on a branch, staring cross-armed down at the brute, whose name was apparently Kankuro.

"You're an embarrassment to our village."

"Ga... Gaara..." Kankuro mumbled, dropping Konohamaru in surprise.

"Losing control of yourself in a fight, how pathetic... Why do you think we came to Konoha?" the boy, Gaara, said with a dead stare aimed at Kankuro, who seemed very afraid of him.

"Listen, Gaara, they started it, and-"

"Shut up..." Gaara said, his dead stare somewhat turning into a glare. "I'll kill you..."

Kankuro flinched and started sweating.

"O-Okay, I'm sorry..."

"I'm also sorry... really sorry..." the girl said, smiling disarmingly.

'That boy's the leader, then,' Naruto deduced as he watched Gaara. 'He has creepy eyes...'

"Sorry to you guys," Gaara told Naruto, mefore disappearing in a swirl of sand, reappearing in front of Kankuro and Temari.

"It looks like we got here too early, but... we didn't come here to play around."

"I know that..."

"Let's go."

"Hey, wait!" Sakura said suddenly. Gaara stopped and turned to her.

"What?"

"Judging from your headbands, you guys are ninja from Sunagakure no Sato, right? You may be allies with Konoha, but it is forbidden for ninja to enter each other's villages without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go..."

"Hey, talk about clueless," the girl said, taking out a pass showing that she was allowed in the village. "Don't you know anything? You're right. We're genin from Suna. We have come to your village to take the Chunnin Selection Exam."

"What's your name?" Naruto asked, jumping down from the tree to land next to Konohamaru.

"Huh? Y-You mean me?" the girl asked, blushing slightly, and Naruto nodded.

"I got the name of Sandman and Kabuki-Baka (Kabuki-Idiot) over there, but not yours," he said, making her blush intensify, while Kankuro twitched in anger.

"Temari," the girl said. "And you are?"

"I'm also interested in you," Gaara said, staring at Naruto. "Your name?"

"Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man," Naruto said with a grin. "But you can call me Naruto."

With a nod, Gaara turned around and walked away, followed by Temari and Kankuro.

"Hey, Konohamaru," Naruto said, turning to the young boy, who snapped to attention.

"Yes, boss?"

"How did you end up in that little pickle, then?"

"All I did was point out that she," Konohamaru said and pointed at Sakura, "was an ugly bitch with a huuuge forehead! Then she started chasing me!"

Naruto turned to stare at Sakura. He stared at her for a long time, then gave Konohamaru a thumbs up.

"Well spotted, kid."

Sakura twitched.

–

Naruto arrived at the meeting spot on the bridge where Kakashi had said for them to meet him. Naruto had by now learned that Kakashi's habit of being late was permanent, so he showed up two hours late, and wasn't surprised when he swung onto the bridge via a tree to find that Kakashi hadn't shown up.

"Hey, gang," Naruto said, landing on the guard rail in a crouch, grinning widely. "How's everything hanging?"

"How can this be allowed?" Sakura demanded, ignoring Naruto's question. "Why does that person ask us to meet and then make us wait?" she wanted to know angrily. "What about the feelings of a young girl who overslept and didn't have time to blow dry her hair?"

"Morning, people!" came Kakashi's voice from above as he crouch on top of an arc at the end of the bridge. "Today, I got lost on the road of life!"

"YEAH, RIGHT! LIAR!" Sakura roared, making Naruto flinch and almost fall off the bridge. "APOLOGIZE!"

"This is sudden, but I've nominated you guys for the Chunnin Selection Exam," Kakashi said, jumping down from the arc to stand in front of his genin. He reached into his kunai pouch and took out three slips of paper. "Here are your applications. Though this is just a nomination. Whether to take the exam is up to each of you. Those who wish to take it should sign those papers and turn them in at room three-oh-one by four in the afternoon tomorrow at the Academy."

The next day found Naruto landing with a thud in front of his teammates at the Academy, grinning widely behind his mask. He now wore his hoodie again.

They entered the Academy and headed down one of the corridors until they reached a large crowd, where two boys had just knocked down a girl with her hair in buns, and a boy wearing green spandex.

"...and chunnin often become captains of the military teams. The failure of a mission, the death of a comrade, that's all the captain's responsibility. Yet, kids like you think you can pass?" a kid with a cold said, "We're just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?"

"I agree, but..." Sasuke said, announcing his presence as Team Seven walked forward. "You will let me pass through. And also, remove this surrounding created with Genjutsu. I'm going to the third floor."

Murmurs started breaking out among the crowd, wondering what the hell Sasuke was talking about. The other kid blocking the door smirked.

"So, you noticed..."

"Sakura, you must have noticed first, right?" Sasuke asked Sakura. "Your analytical ability and Genjutsu know-how is the most improved on our team."

Sakura blinked, then smiled gratefully and gave the kids a confident look.

"Of course, I noticed a while ago. Because this is the second floor!"

"That one was horribly bad," Naruto said, having thought something was wrong. He was no great shakes at Genjutsu, but he was as good as anyone at knowing the difference between the second and third floors.

"Hm... Not bad... But all you did was see through it!" the boy with the cold said as he charged forward, attempting to kick Naruto, who half-flipped forward with one foot still on the floor, attempting to axe kick the boy, only for the spandex-wearing boy to blur in between them, catching the kicks with his bare hands.

'Impressive,' Naruto thought as the spandex-kid let go of his leg. 'His bruising is gone... Was he just acting?'

"Hey," one of the spandex-kid's friends, a Hyuuga judging by his eyes, said. "What happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves."

"Well..." the boy said, glancing at Sakura and blushing. The girl with the buns in her hair shook her head.

"Oh, no..."

The spandex-kid steeled himself and strode over to Sakura, introducing himself, "My name is Rock Lee. So yours is Sakura? Let's go out together! I'll protect you 'til I die!"

Sakura blinked, then said with a deadpan look on her face, "No... way... You're lame..."

Lee slumped with disappointment and sadness, while Naruto patted him on the shoulder.

"Touch luck, mate," he said. "Those are some arms you've got there."

"Hey, you," the Hyuuga said to Sasuke. "What's your name?"

"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give yours first," Sasuke said with a smirk. The Hyuuga ignored him.

"You're a rookie, right? How old are you?"

"I don't have to answer you," Sasuke said, and with that, both genin turned away from each other.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! Let's go!" Sakura said happily and started pulling her two teammates along, to protests from both of them.

–

"Woah..." Naruto muttered as Team Seven stepped into classroom three-oh-one. There were over fifty genin in the room, and they all turned to glare at Naruto and his team when they came in.

"W-What is this?" Sakura asked nervously. Naruto stood there in silence for a few minutes. The gathered genin kept staring. Finally, Naruto cleared his throat.

"Okay, so, Satan walks into this bar..."

The genin looked away, just as a blond missile shot into Sasuke, clinging to him with a cry of, "Sasuke-kun! You're late! I haven't seen you for a while, so I've been waiting in excitement."

"Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!" Sakura roared, and Ino grinned.

"Why, if it isn't Sakura... Big ugly forehead as always..."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

"You guys taking this stupid test, too? Don't die," came the voice of Nara Shikamaru as he approached with his friend Chouji.

"Oh! The slackers!" Naruto said, waving. "It's been a long time!"

"Troublesome blonds..." Shikamaru muttered, while Chouji just kept eating his chips.

"Yahoo! Found you!" came another voice, one that Naruto recognized as Inuzuka Kiba. He was followed by Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino.

"H-Hello..." Hinata stuttered.

"Well, well, everyone's assembled!" Kiba said with a grin.

"Geez, you guys too?" Shikamaru asked with a sigh.

"I see, all nine of this year's rookie genin are taking the exam," Kiba said, nodding. "I wonder how far we'll get, eh, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke scoffed. "You seem confident, Kiba."

"We did a lot of training. We won't lose to any of you."

"You want to test that theory out right here?" Naruto asked, grinning behind his mask.

"Sorry, Naruto.. Kiba-kun didn't mean it in that way..." Hinata mumbled, poking her fingers together.

"Hey, you guys, you should be a bit more quiet," someone said, walking up to them. It was a gray-haired teenager wearing glasses and having his hair in a ponytail. "You guys are rookies just out of the Academy, right? Screaming like school girls... Geez... This isn't a picnic, you know."

"And who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded, crossing his arms.

"I'm Kabuto. But instead of that, look behind you," Kabuto said, and the genin looked behind them to see that the rest of the gathered genin were still glaring at them, most of them radiating killer intent.

–

"This exam will last one hour," the scarred test examiner, Morino Ibiki, said to the gathered genin as they all had gotten their paper tests. "BEGIN!"

Naruto was hunched over his paper, looking over the questions with a look of panic on his face. Luckily, no one could see it through the mask. Alright, so he was no great shakes at two things: Genjutsu and written exams. Oh, boy, this was going to be hard...

'All I can do is cheat,' Naruto thought, sweating as he kept looking over the questions. They were frustratingly difficult. For some reason, he thought that he really should have closer to two-fifty in IQ. It felt somehow right to be that smart. But he wasn't, so he couldn't do anything... 'But the proctor said... that if I'm caught... I fail... Damn it! Why did it have to be a paper test? Why couldn't it have been something else... like 'Who can dodge the most pointy objects?' I'd be awesome!'

Naruto subtly reached into his kunai pouch and took out a smoke bomb. This was his only chance. There was no missing this. He just had to wait for the opportune moment... His spider sense was tingling, which meant someone was watching him. Waiting for a few more seconds and scouting out the people behind him, Naruto dropped the smoke bomb the second his spider sense stopped.

The bomb exploded, kicking up a cloud of smoke that hid half the classroom from view. Inside the smoke, Naruto shot up and spun around, firing a string of webbing and pulling, getting very happy when a piece of paper, all filled out, soared into his hand. He promptly sat down again.

"Get rid of this smoke!"

"I can't see!"

"Open a window!"

"I did!"

"Well, open all the windows!"

A crash was heard.

"AH, MY CROTCH!"

Pretty soon, the windows were open and the smoke had been aired out, revealing one of the chunnin proctor's on the ground, writhing in pain and clutching his family jewels, while another sat next to him, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

'Haha, lucky,' Naruto thought with a grin as he looked down at the test in his lap, copying the answers.

"Hey! My test is gone!" someone yelled out behind him, the guy Naruto had targeted.

"If you were foolish enough to lose your test, you fail!" Ibiki barked. "The two on his team, leave. Now!"

Soon enough, forty-five minutes had passed since the start of the test, and Ibiki straightened up.

"Okay. We will now proceed with the tenth question!" he announced. "Now... before we get to it, I'd like to go over the added rules for this question."

Shock went through the genin who were left, just as the door opened, and Kankuro, who had gone to the bathroom earlier, came inside, followed by his chunnin guard.

"Heh, nice timing. Was your doll playing beneficial?" Ibiki asked, making Kankuro go wide-eyed. "Just sit down. I'll now explain. These are... the rules of desperation. First, for this tenth question, you must decide whether you will take it or not."

"Choose?" Temari demanded. "What happens if we choose not to?"

"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero, and you fail, along with your two teammates!"

"What does that mean?" a Kusagakure ninja asked.

"Of course we'll take it, then!"

"And now, the other rule. If you choose to take it... and answer incorrectly... that person will lose the right to take the Chunnin Selection Exam again!"

"WHAT KIND OF A STUPID RULE IS THAT?" Kiba demanded angrily, shooting out of his chair. "There are guys here who have taken the exam before!"

Ibiki, to everyone's surprise, started chuckling.

"You guys were unlucky. This year it's my rules. But I'm giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident can choose not to take it, and try again next time. Now, let's begin with the tenth question. Those that do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave."

One by one, the genin around Naruto started quitting. Naruto wouldn't quit. He couldn't possibly quit. He'd never hear the end of it... Slowly, he raised his hand, and then slammed it down on the desk.

"Don't underestimate me! I won't run!" he exclaimed with a massive grin behind his mask. "I'll take it! Even if I'm a genin forever, I'll will myself to become Hokage anyway, so I don't care! I'm not afraid!"

"I'll ask you again," Ibiki said, his face as serious as ever. "Your life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit."

"I follow my unbending words... That's my nindo!"

Ibiki looked around. He gazed around the classroom for a few seconds, then nodded. "Good decisions. Now, to everyone still remaining... I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

Silence ensued.

"W-Wait... What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "We already pass? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki grinned, his personality doing a complete one-eighty.

"There never was such a thing. Or you could say that those two choices were the tenth question."

"Hey! Then what were the first nine questions for? They were pointless, then!" Temari exclaimed, and Ibiki shook his head.

"They were not pointless. They had already served their purpose. To test your individual information gathering ability... That purpose. First, as the rules explained, success on this test is based on the whole team doing well. This put pressure on each member not to mess things up for their teammates. But the questions on this test were not the types a mere genin could answer. Becase of that, I'm sure most of the people came to the same conclusion: 'To score points... I'll have to cheat.'

"Basically, the premise of this test is to cheat. As cheating targets, we had two or so chunnin who knew all the answers mixed into the crowd, to help you guys out. But those that cheat poorly... fail, of course," Ibiki said and took off his headband. His head was a road map of pain, with horrible burns, screw holes and other scars. "Because at times, information is more important than life. And on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it. If the enemy or a third party notices you, there is no guarantee that the info will be accurate," he said as he put on his headband again. "I want you to remember this. Important information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and for the village. So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that didn't have the right abilities from those that did."

"But... I don't understand the final question," Temari said, and Ibiki smiled as he finished tying his headband.

"Question ten is the true purpose of this test. Let me explain, the tenth question, the take it or not take it decision... Obviously, these were painful choices. Those who choose the latter fail along with their teammates, and those who choose to take it could lost the chance to take the test again. A true leap of faith. Now, about these two choices... Say you guys become chunnin. Your mission is to steal a secret document. The amount of ninja, their abilities, etcetera, is unknown to you. And, of course, there could be traps set all around you. Now, do you accept, or not accept? Because you don't want to die... because you don't want your comrades hurt... can you avoid this dangerous mission? The answer is no! No matter what the danger, there are missions you can't avoid. The ability to be courageous, and survive any hardship... This is the ability needed to become a chunnin captain! Those who can't put their destinies on the line... who cling to the uncertain future of 'there's always next year,' and then walk away from their chance... Those pieces of trash who can only make such cowardly choices don't have the right to become chunnin! That's how I feel!

"Those who choose to take it answered the tenth question correctly. You will be able to survive any troubles you face in the future. You made it through the entrance. The first test of the Chunnin Selection Exam is now finished. I wish you guys luck!"

Naruto gave a loud whoop and jumped, doing a back flip and landing back in his seat, his hands raised in victory, while Hinata, sitting next to him, giggled.

Suddenly, the window was smashed to pieces as a ball of cloth flew into the classroom. The cloth unfurled itself when two kunai shot out of the ball, stretching the cloth out to reveal the words 'SECOND EXAM PROCTOR, MITARASHI ANKO!' written on it. In front of it stood a woman wearing a very short skirt, an open, tan trench coat, and a lot of mesh.

"You guys! This is no time to be celebrating!" the woman yelled. "I am the examiner for the second test, Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go!" she exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air. "FOLLOW ME!"

Silence ensued. Then, Naruto stood up, pumping his fist.

"Woo! Yeah!"

"Grasp the atmosphere..." Ibiki muttered, coming out from behind the cloth, making Anko blush. Then, however, she looked over the genin and went wide-eyed.

"Seventy-eight? Ibiki! You left twenty-six teams? The test was too easy this time!"

"This time, there are lots of outstanding ones," Ibiki said with a shrug.

"Bah! Fine... I'll at least cut them in half in the second test," Anko said, scoffing. Then, she started shivering, and a smirk appeared on her face. "Aah, I'm getting excited... I'll explain everything once we've changed places. Follow me."

And so, Naruto found himself standing outside a massive forest with insanely large trees. Anko stood in front of the gathered genin, a grin on her face.

"Welcome to the stage for the second exam, Training Area Forty-Four... Also known as the 'Forest of Death!'"

–

**Fourth chapter complete! Please let me know what you think, alright?**

**R&R**

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**R&R**


	5. Chapter 5

**Fifth chapter, fresh out of my head! We enter the second part of the Chunnin Selection Exams! Therefore, I won't hold you up any longer! Read and Review, please!**

–

"You'll soon find out why it's called the 'Forest of Death.'" Anko said with a smirk, looking over the genin.

"Can you believe this chick?" Naruto asked, nudging Sasuke with his elbow, before taking on a high-pitched voice. "'You'll soon find out why it's called the 'Forest of Death.''" he imitated Anko, who just smiled.

"You're very spirited..." she said, and Naruto's spider sense immediately went off. His hand shot up to catch a kunai that was thrown at him at an insane speed. The edge of the blade was about half an inch away from his cheek. Anko had already blurred away and was behind him, looking surprised that he caught the kunai.

"You almost cut my mask," Naruto said, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Ooh, you're a good one," Anko said, hugging Naruto from behind, pressing her... assets... against his back. "Maybe you'll survive longer than I expected... But please, don't be afraid..." she mumbled as she ran a hand across his stomach, her tongue coming out to lick the cheek of his mask. "...to spill that red blood I love so much."

Naruto blushed heavily, which was luckily hidden by his mask, and he meekly held up the kunai, clearing his throat.

"H-Here's your kunai back..."

"My, my, what a gentleman," Anko said, taking the kunai. "Thank you very much," she said and reached into her coat. "Now, before we start the second test, there's something I have to pass out!" She took a pile of paper out of her coat, and handed it to Naruto. "You must sign these agreement forms."

"Agreement forms?" Naruto asked, taking one paper and passing the papers on to Sakura.

"There will be deaths in this one," Anko said as a blush appeared on her face. "And if I don't have you sign these, it will all be my responsibility," she said with a chuckle. "I'm going to explain the second test. Then, you can sign it afterward, and then, each team will check in at that booth behind me."

Anko pointed at a booth near the fence, where three bored looking chunnins sat, obviously wanting to be somewhere else.

"I'll now explain the second test. Simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival."

Shikamaru sighed. "Survival... This test sucks..."

"First, I'll explain the area, in which it will take place," Anko said and unfurled a scroll, showing a map of the forest. "Around the Forest of Death are forty-four locked gates. Forest, river, and a tower in the center. From the gates to the tower, it's around 10 kilometers. During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons and jutsu, you will compete in a... no rules... scroll battle."

"Scroll?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Anko said with a nod as she held out two scrolls. "You will fight over these two scrolls, the Heaven and Earth. There are seventy-eight people here, meaning, twenty-six teams. Half, thirteen, will get the Heaven scroll. And the other thirteen teams will each get the Earth scroll. To pass this test, your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls."

"So, thirteen teams will lose their scrolls..." Shikamaru muttered. "At least half the teams will definitely fail..."

"But there's a time limit," Anko continued. "This second test will last one hundred and twenty hours. Exactly five days."

"FIVE DAYS?" Yamanaka Ino exclaimed, wide eyed.

"WHAT ABOUT DINNER?" Chouji roared, shocked.

"You're on your own. The forest is full of food. Just watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants, etc," Anko said, smiling cruelly. "And thirteen teams passing is not likely. As the days go on, the distance to the goal will become farther, and the time to rest will become shorter. And the area is crawling with enemies. You won't get much sleep. So, not only will some fail by losing the scroll, but some will die from the harshness of the course," she explained, before holding up her hand. "Now, I'll talk about what will disqualify you." She raised a finger. "First, those that don't make it to the tower with both scroll within the time limit." She raised another finger. "Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle. You will be in the forest for five days, or less, depending on when you get to the tower. And one more rule... You must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower."

"What happens if you do?" Naruto asked, getting a smirk from Anko.

"That will be a surprise for anyone who does. A chunnin will be asked to handle classified information. This is to test your trustworthiness. That's it for the explanations. Exchange the three forms for your scroll, then choose a gate to get ready for the start," Anko said, before grinning at them all. "A final word of advice... Don't die."

"Well, no shit..." Naruto muttered as the chunnins in the booth covered it with a curtain.

"It's about time to exchange for the scrolls," one of them announced.

Naruto's hands started shaking slightly in anticipation as he signed his form, staring at the covered booth. 'You can't tell which team gets which scroll... or who on the team is carrying it... Everyone's an enemy... Everyone's determined... There will be killing in this...' He took a deep breath as he finished signing the form.

Naruto and his team went to the booth, got a Heaven scroll, and then headed off, ready to enter gate twelve, where an instructor was waiting, unlocking it.

"The second exam begins now!" was suddenly heard in the speakers, and the instructor opened the gate, allowing them to enter, which they did, speeding inside.

After a couple of minutes of running, a scream was already heard. Team Seven stopped at that. It seemed like at least three people were in a lot of pain.

"That was... a human scream, right?" Sakura asked, getting nods from Naruto and Sasuke. "I'm... getting a little nervous..."

"And someone is watching us," Naruto said quietly as he looked to Sasuke, who tilted his head to the side.

"Your spider sense?" he asked, and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah. Can't tell where they are yet, but I know someone is watching," Naruto said. Sasuke nodded back.

"Alright, we should split up, and see who they follow," he said to Naruto, who nodded again. "I'll go with Sakura, because I'm imagining that you will web sling your way around?"

"No doubt," Naruto said, grinning. "So, we meet at the tower when three days are up?"

"Yeah. Gather as many scrolls as you can, and if we're not there in three days, wait for us."

"Shouldn't I go find you?" Naruto asked.

"We'll be there, so wait for us."

"Will do," Naruto said, and with that, he jumped into the air, firing two strings of webbing and flinging himself deeper into the forest. As he swung through the trees, he felt that amazing feeling of freedom. This was what it was all about. This was now Naruto's favorite thing, web-slinging. His spider sense stopped going off, which meant that the observer had stuck with Sasuke and Sakura.

–

Thirty minutes later, Naruto had already set up a camp, of sorts. High up in the trees, he sat on a massive spiderweb that he'd made himself. He had also set up trip wires of webbing, so that he'd be alerted if someone approached. Several strings of webbing led up into the trees, and Naruto kept a constant guard on them, staring intently.

"Man, this sure is boring..." Naruto mumbled as he leaned back to lie down on the web, his hands behind his head. "I've still got three days left before I have to meet up with them at the tower..." Then, Naruto blinked. "First sign of losing your mind: Talking to yourself..."

A _thwang_ was heard, and Naruto perked up, looking at his trip wire lines, to see one of them quivering. So, someone was approaching. Chuckling quietly, Naruto crawled like a spider on the web, keeping a close eye on the forest floor...

Sure enough, three ninja soon came into the clearing, Takigakure headbands on their heads. Too bad for them, they didn't have a spider sense, so there was no way for them to know that in the dark treetops, Naruto was looking at them.

"Alright," one of the ninja said as he sat down in the center of the clearing, his two teammates sitting down in front of him. "We need a Heaven scroll, but that won't stop us from taking all the scrolls we can. If we find someone with an Earth scroll, we take that as well, alright?"

"Thinning out the possible winners, good plan," the ninja's teammate said, nodding. Then, he got up, and walked over to the bushes. "Look away, I got to take a piss."

The other two did as they were told, and Naruto took this opportunity. He fired two strings of web at the one who was going to take a leak, and pulled. The ninja gave a short scream as he was yanked into the air, where Naruto caught him and headbutted him in the face, knocking him out.

"H-Hey, Kishi!" the ninja's teammate, the one who had come up with the plan to take as many scrolls as they could, said, gulping as they looked around. "Come on, man, this isn't funny!"

"Yes, it is," Naruto whispered to himself as he wrapped the man in a cocoon of webbing, sticking him to the spiderweb, before dropping down, landing between the two ninja. "Sorry, boy and girl, but I need that scroll."

The two ninja spun around, only for Naruto to explode into action, taking on both ninja in a Taijutsu fight. In a display of amazing acrobatics, Naruto had the ninja knocked out cold in a matter of seconds. Stringing them up, hanging from the massive spiderweb in cocoons, Naruto took their scroll and then left, swinging away.

Nighttime soon arrived, and Naruto, now carrying two Earth scrolls and one Heaven scroll, set up another spiderweb, a camp for him to sleep in. No one would find him up there, near the tree tops, and-

A crash shook Naruto from his almost-slumber, and he jumped off the spiderweb to investigate. When he got to the source of the crash, he found none other than Mitarashi Anko pressing someone with a melted face up against a tree. She stabbed herself and the man through the hand, using the man's left hand to help her form seals.

"Heh... Planning to commit suicide?" came a voice from the other side of the tree Naruto was clinging to, making his eyes widen.

'I didn't even sense him!'

Anko's eyes widened, and she looked up at the person on the other side of the tree, who chuckled again.

"Kage Bunshin..."

The man with the melted face in front of Anko disappeared in a puff of smoke, making Anko's eyes widen even further.

"You're a special jounin of this village," the man said, and Naruto climbed up and around the tree to see the man sitting on a branch, looking down at Anko. "You shouldn't be using all those forbidden techniques I taught you."

The man put his hand in a half-Ram seal as he tore away his face, revealing a face with white skin and purple... eye-liner? Anko stiffened and collapsed to her knees, clutching at the back of her neck.

"We haven't seen each other in a long time, yet you are so cold, Anko," the man said, smirking.

"Orochimaru..." Anko mumbled, sweating from the pain. "Have you come to assassinate Hokage-sama?"

"No, no, I don't have enough men for that yet," the man, Orochimaru, said, still keeping his hand in the half-Ram seal. "I thought I'd recruit some outstanding ones from this village. I just gave a kid one of those 'Curse Seals.' There's a kid that I want."

Anko grunted from the pain, then glared up at Orochimaru.

"How selfish... That kid's going to die..."

"The chances of surviving are ten to one, but... like you, he might not die," Orochimaru said.

"You must really like this kid," Anko said with a shaky grin. Orochimaru smirked.

"Jealous, are we? Are you still upset that I threw you away?" he asked with a chuckle, making Anko go wide-eyed. "Unlike you, this one is talented. He's a kid who carries the Uchiha blood, after all. He's also very beautiful... a perfect vessel to be my successor. If that boy survives, things could get very interesting... Please don't stop this exam prematurely... About-"

Naruto had had enough. He fired a string of web at Orochimaru's hand and pulled, stopping whatever jutsu he was using on Anko.

"What?" Orochimaru asked as he looked up, to see Naruto crouching on the tree trunk.

"That's quite enough from you," Naruto said with a grin behind his mask. "I don't know what you did with Sasuke, but you won't have your way."

"Ah, Naruto-kun... The Kyuubi vessel..." Orochimaru said, making Naruto's eyes widen behind his mask.

"What did you just say?" he asked, accidentally dropping the webbing in his hand from the shock. Orochimaru easily tore it from his hand, chuckling.

"Oh, you mean no one ever told you what you are?" Orochimaru asked, looking up at Naruto, while Anko struggled to stand.

"Orochimaru, don't!"

Orochimaru ignored Anko, instead just looking up at Naruto.

"Almost thirteen years ago... the Yondaime Hokage never killed the Kyuubi no Yoko," he said with a wide smirk on his face. "He couldn't. No one could. Instead, he sealed it... inside his newborn son..."

Naruto's eyes widened to an impossible size.

"M... Me...?"

"That's right, Naruto-kun. You are the son of that man," Orochimaru said. "And about as meddlesome as him. But you also have the Kyuubi sealed inside you. Didn't you ever wonder why you received so many glares from the people of this village? Why no one ever wanted their children to befriend you?"

Naruto, who had just been about to fire webbing at Orochimaru, slowly lowered his hands. Then, his eyes widened when his spider sense went off, and he jumped out of the way of a kunai that was heading right for him. He didn't have time to ponder Orochimaru's words right now. They were the truth, he knew that much from Anko's reaction to them, but right now, he had to defeat this guy. He landed on the same branch Orochimaru was on and lashed out with a kick, which was dodged. He was so shocked by the news that he didn't even call out what he was doing, as was his habit after the Sandaime had made him do so in order to properly memorize his moves during training.

Orochimaru's speed was on the same level as Naruto's, as he dodged all of Naruto's strikes with the same ease that Naruto had when dodging Orochimaru's blows.

There was a glint of metal, and Naruto dodged, but his eyes widened when a deep cut appeared on his upper right arm.

'What? He's faster?' he thought in surprise, only to flip back to avoid another swipe of Orochimaru's kunai. 'This guy... he's unreal...'

"You seem surprised, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said, smirking. "Is this the first time you've met someone faster than you?"

'No,' Naruto thought, twitching. 'This is the first time I've met someone my spider sense couldn't keep up with...'

"Let me see..." Orochimaru said as he tilted his head back. Naruto's eyes widened when Orochimaru opened his mouth, and a sword came out of it, falling into Orochimaru's hand. "...if I can't cut into your flesh some more..."

'Here he comes!' Naruto thought as he dodged a thrust from Orochimaru. 'He's fast, but I'm faster! There's no way I can't be faster!'

A slash from the sword cut up Naruto's mask at the neck, leaving a shallow cut in his flesh which, had it been deeper, would have sliced open the aorta. He fired webbing at Orochimaru, who dodged, another first for Naruto, and immediately had to jump out of the way of another slash. He dropped down so that he was hanging upside down on the branch and ran to the other side of Orochimaru, coming up on the branch again. He shot webbing into the trunk behind him and pulled, getting yanked out of the way of a sword thrust.

Naruto landed on the trunk and sprang off, shooting like a missile straight into Orochimaru and knocking him off the branch, sending them both falling straight down into the forest floor, Naruto on top of Orochimaru.

Naruto jumped off Orochimaru and fired web lines into the trees above him, before swinging around Orochimaru, who got up. As he swung, Naruto shot webbing at Orochimaru's feet, pinning him to the floor, before swinging straight at Orochimaru and kicking him with both feet, knocking him straight down into the floor. He was surprised, however, when he landed and saw Orochimaru disappear in a puff of smoke.

The spider sense went off, and Naruto side-stepped, just in time for the sword so slice open his side, making him cry out in pain. He didn't stop, however, and instead spun around with a backspin kick, nailing Orochimaru in the head and sending him flying.

He clutched at his bleeding side and spun around to see what Orochimaru was going to do next. Instead, he just saw Orochimaru landing on his feet, clapping.

"Thank you for that workout, Naruto-kun, but I really must be going. I must see how Sasuke-kun will react to my gift. Farewell."

With that, Orochimaru disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto sighed with relief now that his spider sense stopped tingling, and he used his web lines to launch himself up into the tree where Anko was.

"Hey," Naruto said, landing in a crouch in front of her, clutching at his side. "Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me..." Anko grunted. "How are you?"

Naruto shot webbing at the wound in his side, to at least stop the bleeding.

"I'm fine. Need me to take you somewhere?" Naruto asked, and Anko nodded.

"I need to get to the tower. You have to get going."

"Don't worry, I'll take you there," Naruto said. "My way is faster. Get on my back."

"You're not just saying that because you liked the feel of my breasts against you, right?" Anko asked with a pained smirk, making Naruto twitch as a furious blush appeared on his face.

"N-No! Don't be stupid! I'm trying to help you here!"

"Fine, fine..." Anko said as they both got up, and Anko climbed up on Naruto's back.

"Hold on tight," Naruto said, then jumped off, web-slinging through the forest.

Anko clutched at Naruto tightly, since he had many close calls where he almost slammed into branches, only to dodge thanks to his spider sense.

"Was it true?" Naruto asked as they swung.

"Was what true?"

"What he said, about me, about my father, about the Kyuubi," Naruto clarified, looking back at Anko and dodging a tree without looking.

"Well, I don't know about your father, but yes, the part about the Kyuubi being sealed inside you was true."

"I see..." Naruto muttered. It all made sense, everything. Why the villagers kept glaring at him, why they treated him so coldly even though he hadn't done anything...

They reached the tower in record time, and Naruto was forced to wait outside, while Anko headed inside. There were still days left until he was supposed to meet Sasuke and Sakura...

–

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, the rest of the Rookie 9, Team Gai, Team Suna, Team Oto and Team Kabuto were standing in front of the jounin senseis, the proctors, some chunnins and the Hokage.

The Sandaime cleared his throat.

"First off, for the second test, congratulations on passing!"

Gai smirked and looked at Kakashi.

"Your team isn't too bad. Maybe they were lucky. But as long as my team is around, getting any further is impossible. Since, from now, it's all about real ability. Well, with youth, there are sweet times, and there are sour times, eh Kakashi?"

Kakashi just turned to Gai, staring at him lazily.

"Huh? You say something, Gai?"

Gai snapped and turned his back on Kakashi, clutching his fist.

'Heh... Not bad, my rival Kakashi... You're cool in that way, and it really gets on my nerves!'

Kakashi just looked clueless.

"Now, for the coming third test, but before I explain that, there's something else I'd like you to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam. Why do we have all the allied countries taking the exam together? 'To promote friendship among the countries.' 'To raise the level of ninja.' I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning. This exam is..." the Sandaime said and paused dramatically, puffing on his pipe. "...a replacement for war among the allied countries," he said, shocking the genin present. "If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies who fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle, that is the origins of this chunnin selection exam."

"Then, this isn't for chunnin promotions?" Rock Lee asked, wide eyed.

"It is a fact that this exam decides which ninja have what it takes to become a chunnin. But on the other hand, this exam has another side, where each country's ninja risks their own life to protect their land's prestige."

"Prestige?" Ino asked, getting a nod from the Sandaime.

"Watching this third exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of the ninja. And the leaders of the countries will also be there to watch each of your battles. If the strength of a country is clear, that country will receive more clients. And conversely, if seen as weak, they will lose clients," the Sandaime said and paused for a moment, letting the information sink in. "And this will signal to potential enemy countries that 'our village has this much power.' So, we will send a political message to the outsiders."

"But why?" Kiba asked. "Why do we have to risk our lives in battle?"

"The strength of the country is the strength of the village. The strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi. And a shinobi's true strength is born only through life-risking battle. This exam is a place to see each country's strength, and to show off your own. It only has meaning because lives are at risk. And that's why those that have come before you have fought in the have fought in the chunnin exam for this dream that is meaningful."

"But then... why do you say stuff about it being for friendship?" Tenten of Team Gai asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"I said it in the beginning, I don't want you to confuse the purpose of this. By losing life and establishing balance. This is the shape of friendship in the world of the ninja," the Sandaime said calmly. "Before we begin the third test, I will tell you one more thing. This is not just a test... This is a life-risking battle, with your dreams and your country's prestige on the line."

"I don't care what it is... Just hurry up and tell us what this life-risking battle entails," Gaara said, his arms crossed.

"Yes, I'd like to now explain the third test, but-"

"Actually," a new voice interrupted with a cough as a man blurred into view in front of the Sandaime, on his knees. "I apologize, Hokage-sama... From here on, as the referee, will you please allow me, Gekkou Hayate, to explain?"

"By all means," the Sandaime said with a nod. The man stood up and turned to the genins. He looked sick, with bags around his eyes and a cough.

"Hello, everyone, I'm Hayate. Um... Before the third test, there's something I'd like you to do. It's a preliminary for the third test to decide who gets to participate in the main event," Hayate explained, coughing again. "The first and second test may have been too easy this year. We have a bit too many people remaining. According to chunnin exam rules, we must have a preliminary and reduce the number of participants for the third test. As Hokage-sama indicated earlier, there will be many guests at the third tests, so the fights could take too long. We are limited in time," he explained and paused, letting the information sink in. "So, anyway, those who are not feeling well, those who feel like quitting after these explanations, please come forward now. Since we'll be starting the preliminary immediately."

After a couple of seconds of silence, Kabuto raised his hand.

"Um... I'm going to quit."

Hayate stared at him for a while, before looking at his clipboard.

"You're Konoha's Yakushi Kabuto-kun, right? You may leave now. Does anyone else want to retire? Oh, um... I forgot to tell you that, from now on, it will be individual battling. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment."

No one else raised their hand.

"Well, since no one else wants to quit, let's begin. There are basically no rules. The fight continues until one of you dies, is knocked out, or admits your defeat. But when I decide that the winner has clearly been established, since we don't want to pointlessly increase the amount of corpses, I'll jump in and stop things. And the object that controls your destinies is..."

A hatch on the wall opened up to reveal a large scoreboard.

"...is this... This electric scoreboard will show the match-ups for each battle. Now, this is sudden, but let's announce the 2 names of the first fight."

The screen flickered to light, and two names popped up.

_Uchiha Sasuke_

_vs_

_Akado Yoroi_

Hayate coughed.

"Will everyone except the two participants move to the upper level?"

Everyone, save for Sasuke and Yoroi, walked up to the stands, where Team 7 met their sensei, who was leaning against the wall, reading his Icha.

The match ended quickly. Sasuke had stolen a move from Lee and used it to create his own move, which he called the Shi Shi Rendan (Lion Combo).

Two new names flickered onto the screen.

_Sabaku no Temari_

_vs_

_Tenten_

This match was a little longer. Tenten was a long range fighter, just like Temari. Tenten threw her weapons, and Temari blew them away with her fan. That's the way it went for ten minutes, before Temari finally decided to end it, beating the crap out of Tenten.

_Tsuchi Kin_

_vs_

_Nara Shikamaru_

This match made Naruto laugh. Shikamaru used his shadow to make Kin slam her head into the wall.

_Hyuuga Hinata_

_vs_

_Hyuuga Neji_

This match pissed Naruto off to no end. How someone could do that to his own blood was beyond him. Neji kept talking about fate and kept mentally torturing Hinata. Naruto had to admit that Hinata was strong, though. Not physically, but mentally. Every time she got knocked down, she got up again. When Neji was about to strike her heart, the jounins jumped down and stopped him. Neji spouted some nonsense about favoring the main house.

_Aburame Shino_

_vs_

_Abumi Zaku_

The match was slightly brutal. There wasn't much fighting, but Shino sent his bugs into the pipes in Zaku's arms, jamming them. When Zaku tried to use them, the pipes blew up, taking his right arm and almost his left with them.

Next was the battle of the fangirls, Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino. It was boring, to say the least. They just kept talking through the battle, threw some punches, talked some more, and then, it ended with a draw!

"Worst match ever..." Naruto muttered, shaking his head.

Next was Rock Lee vs Sabaku no Gaara.

This match was intense. Lee showed off some amazing Taijutsu moves, and beat the living shit out of Gaara, but Gaara was protected by his sand. Then, Lee opened the Celestial Gates, and went nuts on the Suna genin. However, once again, his sand protected him, and he managed to crush the wounded Lee's arm and leg, resulting in his victory.

_Akimichi Chouji_

_vs_

_Kinuta Dosu_

This was an extremely quick match. Chouji used his Nikudan Sensha and charged at Dosu, who jumped out of the way, causing Chouji to rush straight into the wall. Then, Dosu punched the inflated Chouji and flicked the sound amplifier on his arm, causing a shockwave to go through Chouji's body, immediately knocking him out.

"That leaves only one match," Hayate said. "Uzumaki Naruto vs Inuzuka Kiba."

Kiba and Naruto jumped into the arena, and Kiba howled with joy.

"Yahoo, lucky! It's like we've already won! Eh, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked with excitement, while Naruto just raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe you should hold your proclamations of victory until after the match?" he asked in a bored tone of voice. This match was going to be boring. He could feel it. After that Kusa ninja in the forest, no fight would ever be the same.

"Heh, whatever," Kiba said, grinning as he set Akamaru down on the ground.

"Are you sure you wanna use your dog to fight?" Naruto asked, getting a nod from the Inuzuka.

"Of course. Akamaru always fights with me," Kiba said, to which Naruto.

"Final match, Uzumaki Naruto vs Inuzuka Kiba," Hayate said as he looked over the combatants. "Begin!"

"I'll end this quick," Naruto said calmly as Kiba put his hands in a Tiger seal.

"Gijyuu Ninpou: Shikyaku no Jutsu (Beast Mimicry Ninja Art: Four-Legged Technique)!" he exclaimed as he got down on all fours, his nails growing into claws, and his canines elongating.

"Oh, you're pretty beastly, Kiba!" Naruto said with a grin, his spider sense going haywire. He dodged, just as Kiba blurred past him, swiping at him with his claws. He was fast, but he was no Orochimaru. Having regained his ability to 'narrate,' Naruto dodged Kiba's swipes with calls of "Dodge!" "Jump!" "Leap!" "Hup!" and "Hop!"

"Stand still!" Kiba growled, jumping back at the same time as Naruto, who tilted his head to the side.

"Don't wanna attack anymore, Kiba?"

"In your dreams!" Kiba said as he crouched down, and Akamaru jumped up on his back. "Gijyuu Ninpou: Juujin Bunshin (Beast Mimicry Ninja Art: Man Beast Clone)!"

Akamaru transformed into Kiba, and they both charged at Naruto, who easily dodged. However, Kiba and Akamaru didn't let up, not giving Naruto a chance to counter.

Finally, Naruto jumped into the air and landed on the statue of two hands in a Ram seal. Once up there, he fired webbing at Kiba and Akamaru, nailing one of them over the mouth, and the other one on the foot, sticking him to the ground. While Kiba (or Akamaru) was busy trying to get the webbing off his face, Naruto jumped down and dropkicked the one stuck to the ground in the face, making him explode into smoke and fly away, revealing Akamaru. Naruto spun and stuck Kiba's feet to the ground as well, then walked around him.

"Oh, it's all so simple," Naruto said with a grin as he stood in front of Kiba, who still struggled with the webbing on his face, only for his hands to stick to it as well. "Don't worry, this webbing dissolves in an hour, but until then. Wait a minute... Ah... Aah..." Naruto stopped and leaned his head back, chipping after air. Then, the threw his head forward with an "ACHOO!" and fired webbing straight into Kiba's crotch. A muffled scream was heard from Kiba, and Naruto charged forward, punching him in the face, easily knocking him out with his superior strength.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate announced, and in the stands, Sakura cheered, while Kakashi just smiled at him.

–

**Fifth chapter complete! Please let me know what you think, alright?**

**R&R**

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**R&R**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sixth chapter, fresh out of my head! We enter the first part of the Third Exam! Therefore, I won't hold you up any longer! Read and Review, please!**

–

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said in the hospital as he found his sensei coming into the reception with his hands in his pockets, looking lazy as usual.

"Quiet down, Naruto," Kakashi said softly. "We're inside a hospital. And no need to tell me why you're here. I already know what you're going to ask. I've found someone who will look after your training."

"Huh? Why not you, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, and Kakashi glanced to the side.

"I've got some business to take care of, so... I don't have time to look after you."

Naruto stared hard at Kakashi for a moment, then it clicked. "Ah! You're gonna train Sasuke, aren't you?"

"Now, now, don't be like that," Kakashi said in a placating manner. "I've found a teacher for you who's much more reliable than me."

"Oh, really?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms. "Who?"

"It's me!" a very familiar voice called out, and Naruto spun around to see none other than Anko standing there, her arms crossed under her chest.

Naruto's eyes widened, and a furious blush appeared on his face when he remembered the sensation of her breasts against his back (He was a thirteen-year old boy, after all).

"Why her?" Naruto asked rudely, making the smirking Anko twitch as the smirk disappeared from her face.

"What's wrong with me?" she demanded, but Naruto ignored her and looked to Kakashi.

"Anko-san has a chakra exercise for you," Kakashi said. "Of the three students that I teach in Team Seven, you're the one with the worst basic skills. You rely only on your Taijutsu, and have hardly any chakra control. Let her teach you this."

"But I don't need to learn chakra control, since I'm a Taijutsu specialist!" Naruto countered. Anko chuckled as she walked up to Naruto, slinging an arm around his shoulder and pressing the side of her breast against Naruto's face, making his blush return full force.

"Brat, this chakra control exercise is one that'll come in handy for you later in life, trust me. Now come on, I'll take you to where we'll train."

And so, Naruto found himself standing by the hot springs with Anko. Anko herself stood in front of a pool of extremely hot water, which was pouring out of the cliff side.

"So, what are we doing here?" Naruto asked. "We gonna take a bath before we start training?"

"Ufufufu..." Anko chuckled pervertedly. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, brat?" Naruto just blushed, and Anko laughed. "No, this is where we'll be training."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Walk on top of the hot spring water," Anko said simply with a smirk, making Naruto's eyes widen. "I've heard from Kakashi that you've already done the tree climbing exercise with Hokage-sama. It's a variation of that. In tree climbing, you only have to continually create the same amount of the necessary chakra, and gather it to the necessary place. The tree is solid under you, and all you have to do is stick to it. In other words, it's a lesson in how to build up a certain amount of chakra. In order to walk on water, you must always expel the appropriate amount of chakra into the water from your feet and you must make it match the amount necessary to make you float. This chakra control exercise is more difficult than-"

"Woah, woah, woah," Naruto interrupted, raising his hands. "I'm not good with explanations. All I hear is, 'Blah, blah, blah.' How about you just show me?"

Anko twitched. She had come up with this incredibly long explanation that would make her sound really smart, and the brat went and interrupted her...

"Fine," she said and walked over to the water. She'd have her payback soon enough. She turned to the water and put her hands in a Ram seal. "Look, first I gather the chakra to my feet. Then, as I continually expel a set amount of chakra, I match it to the weight of my body," she explained as she walked out onto the water, getting an "Ooh!" from Naruto. "Understand?"

"I got it," Naruto said, putting his hands in a Ram seal, and walking toward the water. "First, gather it to your feet, and then expel a set amount, rig-"

He was interrupted when he promptly sank like a stone, only to come up screaming a few seconds later, scrambling onto the rocks surrounding the pool.

"I forgot to mention," Anko said with a huge grin on her face. "This bath water is sixty degrees Celsius. If you continue to fail, you'll become a boiled egg!"

"Damn you..." a steaming Naruto said, glaring at her behind his mask, only to make her grin even wider.

"Try it again."

After three more splashes in the water, Naruto was standing mid-shin in the water, almost getting it, making Anko's eyes widen.

'To think that the brat would grasp this exercise so soon...'

"This was not at all as hard as tree climbing," Naruto said, slowly stepping up onto the surface, grinning behind his mask.

"Good work, kid," Anko said, smiling. "This training session was a lot shorter than I had expected it'd be. You took to that chakra control like a fish to water."

"I have a name, you know," Naruto said. "It's Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah," Anko said, waving him off. "Now, come on, kid, I'll treat you to some dango."

–

Naruto and Anko sat in the best dango stand in Konoha, enjoying their meal. Naruto's mask was halfway rolled up to expose his mouth and half his nose.

"So, on the way here..." Naruto said, chewing on a dango stick. "Care to tell me why you got about as many glares as I did?"

Anko glanced at Naruto, who noticed that she tensed up slightly.

"Not really. Mind your own business, brat."

"But I like sticking my nose in other people's business," Naruto said with a grin. "It makes me happy."

Anko scoffed, but seemed to contemplate telling him. Finally, she sighed.

"I was once the disciple of Orochimaru," she said. "Enough said."

"I keep hearing about Orochimaru, but I have no idea what he did," Naruto said, his grin dropping. Anko looked at him incredulously.

"How can you not know what he did? Orochimaru is the greatest criminal to ever come out of Konoha! He performed horrible experiments on people, and killed countless Konoha citizens!"

"Huh..." Naruto said, humming. "So, they glare at you, because you were once associated with Orochimaru, and think that you might go the same way as him?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, that's just stupid."

"Tell me about it, kid..."

"It's Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah."

–

"My, my..." came the voice of the Sandaime Hokage's voice as he entered Naruto's apartment. The entire living room was covered in webbing, which seemed to have been shot out of small, round metal devices stuck to the floor, ceiling, and walls. In the back of the room sat Naruto, tinkering with his toys at his workbench. Next to him lay a round, shell-like backpack made of metal, with slots that could be pulled out all around it. "You've been busy, Naruto-kun."

"Jiji," Naruto said, not looking up from his work as he tinkered with a web-mine, as he called them. If a chakra source passed the lens of the web-mine, it would trigger the mine, which would then shoot a spider-web that had been tightly packed into the mine. "I have to ask you something..."

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" the Sandaime asked as he maneuvered through the room, careful not to touch the webbing he'd helped develop, as he knew he'd stick to it for hours if he did. Finally, Naruto stopped working and turned around on his swivel chair to look at the Sandaime.

"Was the Yondaime my father?"

This question caught the Sandaime by surprise, as he flinched rather violently at the blunt question, revealing that Naruto had found out the secret that the Sandaime had worked so hard to keep just that, a secret.

"What makes you ask that, Naruto-kun?"

"That guy in the forest, Orochimaru," Naruto said, leaning back in his swivel chair and crossing his arms. "He told me some things, told me about how I'm the container for the Kyuubi no Yoko, sealed into me by my own father, the Yondaime. Is it true?"

The Sandaime sighed. Leave it up to Orochimaru to cause trouble like this. "I was hoping, praying even, to never have to tell you this, Naruto-kun, but yes, it is true. You are the container for the Kyuubi, and as you have no doubt figured out, that's the reason why the villagers are so hateful toward you. I hope you're not too upset about all this?"

"Nah," Naruto said. "I'm just glad they hate me for the Kyuubi, and not for me. It's good to know the reason why they hate me. Besides, I have to worry about the third exam. I can't be bothered to worry about these things. There's plenty of time for me to chew you out for lying to me after I become chunnin."

The Sandaime was not looking forward to that conversation... He smiled.

"I'm glad to see that you are taking it so well, Naruto-kun. Know that your father would be proud of you." Naruto nodded, then turned back to the workbench, and the Sandaime approached it, looking down at the things Naruto was working on curiously. "So, Naruto-kun, what are you doing?"

"I'm working on some spider gear," Naruto said simply, pointing at a small metallic item in the shape of a spider, which was laying on top of a pile of identical-looking metal spiders. "That's my spider-tracker, it's an object loaded with my chakra. I just attach some webbing to it, and throw it onto whatever I want to track, and my spider sense can pick up on it, pointing me in the direction of the tracker. That," he said, pointing at a round metal device with a red lens in the center of it, "is a spider mine. It should come in handy in the future. It fires a spiderweb at anyone who crosses it."

"Very nice, Naruto-kun. And the other items?"

"A ninja isn't supposed to reveal his secrets, is he, Jiji?" Naruto asked with a smirk, and the Sandaime chuckled.

"Too true, too true."

"I can tell you, however, that I've been working on some new web-shooters, along with a new web formula."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. I'll show you during the Third Exam."

"Well, good luck, Naruto-kun. I'll leave you in your little web, to work."

"Thanks, Jiji."

With that, the Sandaime left.

–

The month passed quickly, and now, Naruto stood in the arena where the Third Exam was going to be held, with Shikamaru, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Neji, and Shino. Dosu and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen, which was strange to Naruto, as Sasuke wouldn't miss this for the world. Hadn't he recovered yet? No, that couldn't be it. Kakashi was supposed to train him, after all.

"Hey, hey, stop looking around," the proctor, a jounin chewing on a long toothpick, said as he glanced back at Naruto and Shikamaru, who had both been looking around at the other participants of the Third Exam. "In this main tournament, you guys are the stars."

Naruto, who had gone with a change of wardrobe, took a deep breath. He had traded in his ANBU pants for a pair of red and blue spandex pants, and had switched gloves to a pair of all red ones that went up to his elbows, with the new web-shooters sewn into them. These new ones could also retract the fired web lines. He also wore his steel, shell-like backpack.

"Thanks, everyone, for coming to the Konoha Chunin Selection Exam!" came the Sandaime's voice from the top box, where he and the Kazekage were. "We will now start the main tournament matches between the eight participants who made it through the preliminaries! Please stay and watch until the end!"

"There's something I'd like to tell you before the matches," the proctor said, turning to them. "Look at this," he said and took out a piece of paper, showing the matches. Dosu was no longer on it, so Shikamaru was only facing Temari. "There have been some minor changes to the tournament. Check once again to see who you're fighting.

Naruto nodded to himself when he saw that he was still fighting Neji, who glanced at him with a smirk on his face.

"Excuse me," Naruto said suddenly.

"What?"

"Sasuke isn't here yet. What are you gonna do?"

"If he doesn't appear by the time of his match, he will receive a default loss," the proctor said. "Alright, guys, this is the final test. The arena is different, but the rules are the same as in the prelims. There are none. You fight until one of you dies or acknowledges defeat. But if I determine that the fight is over... I'll step in and stop it, you got that?" No one nodded or said anything, but the proctor seemed to think that it was good enough, as he continued, "Now, the first fight, Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Neji. Those two stay here, while the rest of you go to the waiting room."

Everyone save for Naruto, Neji, and the proctor left the arena, and soon, Naruto and Neji stood facing each other. Neji smirked.

"You look like you have something to say."

"Yeah, I do," Naruto said, and gave Neji a thumbs down. "You're gonna pay for what you did to Hinata."

"Now, the first fight," the proctor said as Neji's Byakugan activated, "begin!"

"Heh, that's what makes it all worthwhile... It will be fun to watch you fall apart when you discover reality," Neji said, taking the Gentle Fist stance.

Naruto had studied the fighting style thoroughly during Neji's fight with Hinata. Neji went for Tenketsu, and nothing else. Naruto could work with that, easily. He knew just how to fight Neji in case the man got too close for comfort, if he could even do that. Naruto chuckled.

"It'll be even more fun to see you panic when I get the first hit in."

Neji's eyes hardened, and he charged forward. Naruto easily swerved out of the way of his admittedly fast strike, then dodged the follow-up spin kick. Neji had skills, he had to admit. He could probably become jounin within two years. Naruto could see that by the way Neji kept attacking him, striking with precision and force at the same time. But, so could Naruto, and Naruto was a lot faster than Neji. Not to mention, his spider sense kicked in with every strike, and he easily dodged them all.

Naruto ducked under a strike, and then came up with a devastating uppercut that landed on Neji's chin, packing enough power to lift Neji off his feet and send him backflipping into the ground.

"First hit was mine," Naruto said, grinning behind his mask. "Are you alright, there?" he asked as Neji pushed himself to his feet, stumbling a little. "I might not look it, but my punches pack one hell of a kick."

"Heh, hardly even fazed me," Neji said, taking the Gentle Fist stance again. "You got a lucky hit in, but you won't hit me again. You might as well give up, loser. It's your fate to lose to me."

"Fate?" Naruto asked curiously. "There's no fate but what we make for ourselves, I always say," he said with a grin, which faded slightly immediately. "I've said that once..." It faded a little more. "...just now..." His grin was now completely gone, and he shrugged. "But it's a smart thing to say nonetheless!"

Neji charged, and once again, Naruto was forced to dodge. Just like with Orochimaru, Naruto wasn't given a chance to counter the fast strikes. But Neji was nowhere near Orochimaru's level when it came to speed.

"And... Kick!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly, jumping and delivering a back-spin kick that sent Neji flying. Naruto grinned. "You're acting very much like a rookie, Hyuuga Neji-sama of the great destiny," he said as Neji struggled to his feet. Rushing forward he leapt at Neji and tried to punch him, only to be shocked when his punch was stopped a few inches away from Neji's face. Neji spun quickly, forming a dome of chakra around him that pounded into Naruto and sent him flying, unable to dodge in the air despite his spider sense kicking in.

Landing hard on the ground, Naruto immediately flipped to his feet and spun to look at Neji, who stopped spinning with a smirk.

"Who is the rookie here, dropout?" he asked, taking the Gentle Fist stance again. "You charged in and attacked without finding out your opponent's moves first. And now, you are within the field of my Hakke."

"Your what?" Naruto asked as Neji crouched low, his arms spread out in front of him and behind him.

"Hakke... Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!" Neji charged forward with impressive speed and struck Naruto twice in the chest. "Two strikes!" he exclaimed, then struck Naruto twice more. "Four strikes! Eight strikes! Sixteen strikes! Thirty-two strikes! Sixty-four strikes!"

The last two strikes hit with a strike to the chest and another one to the abdomen, sending Naruto tumbling back, stopping on his stomach, face-down in the dirt. Neji turned off his Byakugan and turned to the proctor.

"Examiner, this match is over."

The proctor scoffed and raised an eyebrow. Neji's eyes widened, and he spun around just in time to get punched on the cheek with enough force to send him flying across the arena straight into the wall.

"You're operating under the impression that this whole thing wasn't just an act to see your moves," Naruto said, standing up and looking perfectly fine. Neji coughed up blood as he thumped onto the ground and pushed himself to his feet.

"How...? I closed all your Tenketsu..."

"Look again," Naruto said with a smirk. Neji immediately activated his Byakugan, and went wide-eyed at what he saw. "I've already seen your Gentle Fist. You target the Tenketsu, so it was easy for me to move half an inch to the side with every strikes, avoiding getting my Tenketsu hit. You were arrogant, and that's why you will lose this fight."

"I cannot lose... It's my fate to win this match..." Neji muttered, taking the Gentle Fist stance again.

"Fate, fate, fate, that's all you ever talk about. Let me ask you something," Naruto said, standing in a very relaxed position. "Why, if you're this strong, did you mentally attack Hinata, who was trying so hard?"

Neji scoffed. "That's none of your business."

"Insulting Hinata... automatically deciding she's a loser... Main Family, Branch Family, I don't know what the hell happened there, but pieces of shit like you who call other people losers, I'll never forgive!"

Neji was quiet for a moment. Then, a smirk made its way onto his face.

"Alright... If you're gonna go that far, I'll tell you... of the Hyuuga's destiny of hatred... The Hyuuga Main Family has a special Ninjutsu that's been passed down... It's a Curse Seal Jutsu."

"Curse Seal?"

"The curse of the mark represents 'a bird in a cage.' It is the symbol of being tied down to an inescapable destiny," Neji said and reached up, taking off his headband to show his forehead, upon which he bore a strange mark. It was a Buddhist cross in between two horizontal lines ending in hooks.

"One day, when I was four, I had this horrible seal carved into my forehead through that Curse Seal Jutsu. That day, a grand ceremony was taking place in the leaf. A ninja leader from Cloud Country, which had been warring with Konoha for many years, had arrived to sign an alliance treaty. But at this ceremony, which everyone attended, from jounin to genin, one clan was missing. That was the Hyuugaclan. Because that was the important day when the Hyuuga heir turned three. Hinata-sama's birthday. My father, Hyuuga Hizashi, and Hinata-sama's father over there, Hyuuga Hiashi-sama," Neji said, gesturing with his head toward the stands, "were twins. But Hinata-sama's father, Hiashi-sama, was born to this world first. A member of the Main Family... And my father, the second son, became a member of the Branch Family. When the Hyuuga first daughter grew and turned three, I was turned into 'the bird in the cage' through this curse. As a Hyuuga Branch Family member."

"They put marks on you to distinguish between families?" Naruto asked in disgust. "Why is that necessary?"

"This mark on my forehead is not simply a decoration. This curse seal is the absolute fear of death given to the Branch Family by the Main Family. With a simple, secret hand seal, the Branch member's mind can easily be destroyed. Death is just as easy, of course. And this curse will only disappear after death, sealing up the ability of the Byakugan along with it."

"Oh, so this is what it's all about," Naruto said, nodding. "You're bitching because your father ended up being born second. I'm sure that if you had been a Main Family member, you wouldn't be so quick to condemn that little seal of yours."

"But I'm not! My fate has always been to carry this curse, just as it was my father's fate!"

"So, just because it was your fate to carry a little curse like that, you think you can see everyone's fates?" Naruto asked with a scoff. "Please. Your eyes may see a lot, but they can't see _that_."

"Enough! An ignorant brat like you shouldn't be lecturing! People are born with a destiny they cannot oppose! You could never understand what it's like to be burdened with a symbol you could never rid yourself of!"

Naruto tilted his head to the side. Wrong person to say something like that to, really.

"Yeah, I can, better than you could possibly imagine," he said, shrugging. "And? What about it?"

Neji gritted his teeth and charged at Naruto, striking at him, but Naruto ducked and planted his foot in Neji's stomach, sending him stumbling back. Then, he shot up and started pounding Neji with punch after punch. He then shot webbing at Neji's feet, sticking him to the ground and preventing him from spinning, before delivering a clothesline that smashed Neji's skull down into the dirt. Neji coughed up even more blood, and this time, he didn't get up.

"I... failed the Academy exam the first time I tried it, and I was the dead last in class," Naruto told Neji as he stood over him. "And look at me now, beating last year's Rookie of the Year in the Chunnin Exams. 'Destiny can't be changed, blah, blah, blah.' Stop whining about stupid crap like that. Since... you're not a loser like me."

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" the proctor called out suddenly.

One by one, the spectators started clapping, until they finally broke into loud cheers. Naruto, who had completely forgotten about the crowd, suddenly whooped and started doing backflips and various acrobatics from the joy as he ran around, throwing kisses at the crowd.

–

**Sixth chapter complete! Please let me know what you think, alright? Also, I'm getting a poll going. Do you want villains from the Spider-Man series to make an appearance, and if so, choose who you want (You may pick several):**

**Doctor Octopus**

**Venom**

**Green Goblin**

**Kraven**

**Lizard**

**Mysterio**

**Please let me know who you want and what you think of the fic so far!**


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